COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Wednesday received 6,00,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine that would be used for the vaccination of Chinese workers living in the island nation, a senior health official has said.

The vaccines arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport on Wednesday where it was officially handed over to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa by China's Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong, according to reports by  Xinhua news.

Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Minister of Tourism Prasanna Ranatunga were present at the occasion. An official certificate signing ceremony took place between the Chinese Ambassador and State Minister of Pharmaceutical Production, Supply and Regulation Channa Jayasumana, after which the vaccines were handed over to President Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka is presently in the midst of a mass-scale vaccination program as it began inoculating all those above 30 in the urban Western Province from mid-February after frontline and health workers were administered the AstraZeneca jabs.

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