Sri Lanka mulls making COVID-19 vaccine cards mandatory

Sri Lankan Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said on Monday that legal advice had been sought on if COVID-19 vaccine cards could be made mandatory for people to visit public places in the country.

Speaking to legislators in the parliament, Rambukwella said that following discussions, the attorney general had informed him that legal procedures could be taken against those who had not been vaccinated with both doses of COVID-19 vaccines if they visit the public places in the future.

Rambukwella said the Health Ministry will introduce a mobile app to display whether both doses of the vaccine had been obtained and if not, people will not be allowed to enter public places.

According to the ministry, over 60 per cent of its total population had so far been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a mass vaccination program, which began in January, is still underway.

The main vaccine being administered is China's Sinopharm followed by AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and Sputnik V.

To date, Sri Lanka has reported 545,256 COVID-19 cases since March 2020 with 13,856 COVID-19 related deaths.

(ANI/Xinhua)