Sri Lankan Health Minister says Chinese vaccine will not be used until safety ensured

Sri Lankan Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi has said that the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine of China will not be administered to the people of Sri Lanka until the health authorities ensure that it is safe.

In the Sri Lankan Parliament, while responding to the opposition, the minister said  that their regulatory authority had been analyzing data on the vaccine to ensure that the vaccine is safe, as per reports. He also said that Sri Lankans will be administerd the vaccine only after the World Health Organisation (WHO) approves it for emergency use. This statement comes amid growing criticism of the Chinese vaccine.

Manusha Nanayakkara, an opposition leader on Sunday reportedly said that four members of the country's medicine regulatory authority had to leave because they did not approve the Chinese vaccine.

"The government delayed the importation of the corona vaccine. Our experts say that the approval of the World Health Organisation has not been granted for the corona vaccine from China. However, when the doctors and officials of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority said they could not approve the Chinese vaccine, the government asked them to resign. That is how four people resigned refusing to approve the vaccine," Nanayakkara had said, as per news agency ANI.

Sri Lanka receives 600,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine

In March, Sri Lanka had received 600,000 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. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had accepted the vaccine from Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong at the airport after the doses were flown in on Wednesday. The vaccine was developed by Sinopharm’s Beijing Institute of Biological Products and the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products in China. “As per the Chinese government’s request, we will first vaccinate Chinese workers in Sri Lanka, most likely starting next week,” Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera had said.

(With Agency Inputs)