The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday congratulated the Sri Lankan government for administering a record number of over 500,000 COVID-19 vaccines in a single day on Thursday.
In a statement on its official Twitter account, the WHO said by administering such a large number of vaccines in a single day the government had achieved an impressive milestone.
According to official statistics from the Health Ministry, 515,830 vaccines were administered on Thursday across the country while in total over 11.2 million doses of vaccine have been administered to date this year.
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in a statement said Sri Lanka had marked a new record by vaccinating over 500,000 people within a day thanks to the dedication of the Health Ministry and the tri forces.
“Together we are working hard to ensure the immunity of all Sri Lankans,’’ the president said.
According to official figures, China’s Sinopharm vaccine was the highest jabbed on Thursday with 418,494 people jabbed with the first dose while 56,738 people were jabbed with the second dose within the day.
In total 7,188,692 people had received the first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine to date, out of which 1,663,421 people have been jabbed with both doses.
Furthermore, people have also been administered the AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Sputnik V vaccines in the country.
President Rajapaksa recently said that the government aims to inoculate all those above 30 years of age with the first dose of their vaccines by September.
