By Saman Indrajith

Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi told Parliament yesterday that experiments were being conducted by a team of Lankan experts to use Pfizer vaccines as the second dose for those who had been given the first jab of AstraZeneca vaccine.

Wanniarachchi said that in several countries those who received the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine had been given Pfizer booster shots. The results were encouraging, she added. The team of experts was expected to submit its findings within the next two weeks and those findings would then be referred to the National Advisory Committee on Communicable Diseases for further recommendations.

Responding to a series of questions raised by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa on the prevailing situation with regard to the national inoculation drive, the Health Minister said there were 582,000 persons who had received the first dose of AstraZeneca. The government was trying to obtain the second dose of the vaccine for them using its diplomatic channels. In addition in the coming days the country would receive 264,000 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine under COVAX.

The Minister said that there was a serious delay in obtaining AstraZeneca vaccines, produced in India, as the producer had suspended export. Several other countries were facing the same problem, she said, adding that 925,242 persons had been given the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine.

The first recommendation was that those who received the first jab of AstraZeneca should get their second dose after four weeks. However, on the basis of findings of scientific experiments in April this year, it was recommended that the second dose should be delayed for 12 weeks to get immunity against the virus. As per the most recent findings, those who got the first jab had optimum immunity for 16 weeks.

The Minister said that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines received from India, and vaccines received under the COVAX facility and vaccines purchased from the Serum Institute of India had been given to the health workers of the government and private hospitals, front-row officials including the members of police, tri-forces and the Civil Defence force, employees in vulnerable places such as ports, airport and Courts, people above the age of 30 in the Western province, and the Matara District and employees at Norochcholai Power Plant, Parliament staff, MPs and religious leaders.