The World Bank today approved $80.5 million additional financing to help Sri Lanka access and distribute fairly COVID-19 vaccines and to strengthen the country’s vaccination system and pandemic response. This additional finance builds on the $217.56 million Sri Lanka COVID-19 Emergency Response and Pandemic Preparedness Project, which was approved in April 2020.
This new financing will help purchase vaccines to cover approximately 4 million people (18 percent of Sri Lanka’s population). In addition, it will cover the costs of deploying safe and effective vaccines to 20 percent of Sri Lanka’s population to meet the target of vaccinating at least 60 percent of its population. This additional financing will help implement the National Vaccine Deployment Plan of the Ministry of Health (MOH).