COLOMBO, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka is facing a severe shortage of AstraZeneca vaccines due to a ban on vaccine exports imposed by the Indian government amid a rise in COVID-19 infections, local media reported Friday.

Quoting officials from Sri Lanka's State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC), it said Sri Lanka's Health Ministry was awaiting an update from the Serum Institute in India which manufactures the AstraZeneca vaccines and had already supplied 1 million doses to the island country since January. However, Serum Institute is now unable to ship the further 1 million doses.

According to the SPC, the Serum Institute was expected to send a further 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines in April and another 500,000 doses in May but they were now unsure when the shipments would arrive, leading to a severe shortage to give the second dosages to those who have already received the first jabs.

State Minister of Primary Health Care, Epidemics and COVID Disease Control Sudarshini Fernandopulle notified the Parliament on April 5 that the vaccination process for those who received the first AstraZeneca doses will commence on Monday, but the Epidemiology Unit said they were yet to set a date.

"Once a date is set we will notify the public," Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera told Xinhua.

According to Fernandopulla, around 300,000 doses of the AstraZeneca had been set aside for the second round from the initial 1 million doses which had been supplied by the Serum Institute in India.

Sri Lanka started its vaccination program at the end of January for frontline workers and later opened it out to the people in the Western Province which has been one of the worst hit by the pandemic.

To date over 95,000 people have been infected with the virus in the country. Enditem

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