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Health Ministry takes U-turn on Pfizer vaccine expiry date
ECONOMYNEXT –The Health Ministry has taken a U-turn on the expiry date of $40 million US dollar worth Pfizer vaccines and now says the shelf life on the vaccine is in the process of being extended up to 18 months with the advice of Pfizer manufacturer.
The Ministry last month said a Health Ministry-appointed technical committee was evaluating future actions regarding $40 million worth expired Pfizer vaccines which were expected to have expired on December 31.However, the Ministry now says the expiry date is to be extended.
“Pfizer company time to time used to extend the expiry date of Pfizer vaccines. Initially, the expiry date was nine months from the manufacture date and extended up to six,nine and 12 months consecutively,” the Health Ministry said in response to EconomyNext’s Right to Information (RTI) request.
“Now the Pfizer company is in the process of extending the expiry date up to 18 months. This information has been submitted to the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) in Sri Lanka with the available evidence.”
“Until we get the proper directives from the NMRA in this regard, we cannot label the available Pfizer vaccine as an expired lot.”
Earlier, Health Ministry officials have said around six million Pfizer vaccines had expired on December 31 after the expiry date was extended twice from June 30.
Sri Lanka secured 18 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine in January 2022 as the country could not order COVID-19 vaccines on time. Later, the government decided to use the remaining vaccines as booster doses after strong reluctance from the public to receive the third and fourth doses.
Around 6 million doses were not used as of end-2022.The Ministry of Health on two occasions, in consultation with the World Health Organization, extended the shell life of the vaccine till December 31, 2022.
Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella in October told EconomyNext that Sri Lanka was in the process of donating over $40 million worth six million Pfizer vaccines to Myanmar. However, that plan failed and the Ministry sought expert opinions and feedback on the disposal.
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By Priyan de Silva
The Election Commission (ECSL) has opposed a move by the government to appoint representatives of the Chairpersons of the Regional Development Committee to monitor local government institutions.
ECSL Chairman Nimal G. Punchihewa told The Island that the government had informed the ECSL of its plan to appoint representatives of the Chairpersons of the Regional Development Committee to monitor the local government bodies and the ECSL had decided to write to the Ministry of Local Government opposing the move, he said. A Chairman of a regional development committee ESD a representative of a particular political party and it would be unfair by other parties for such appointments to be made, the EC Chairman said.
Punchihewa said that the administration of local government institutions could be done through Municipal Commissioners and Divisional Secretaries.Many political parties had complained against the government move, he said.
By Saman Indrajith
The JVP would file a fresh application before the Supreme Court against the government for not holding the local council polls, JVP MP Vijitha Herath said yesterday.Addressing the media at the party headquarters in Pelawatte, Herath said that his party had ascertained fresh information by invoking the Right to Information Act about the funds needed for the holding of the elections and his party would file another fundamental rights case against those responsible for conducting elections.
“The LG polls were to be held on 09 March. They were postponed until 25 April, and later they were put off indefinitely. The President appoints Governors to the provinces and the local councils are under them. Now, he says no party commands the support of 50 percent of voters.
Is this reason why he is not holding elections? His claim that there are no funds for elections is not acceptable. The Election Commission (EC) has, in a letter to the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, asked for Rs 1,100 million in installments for conducting local government elections. The Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, on 07 March, informed
the EC that the latter’s request had been referred to the Minister of Finance on the same day. But so far the money has not been released. As per a report released by the Treasury, the government revenue was Rs 177,900 million in January this year alone. Of that amount, Rs 156,760 was allocated to government institutions. The Treasury has Rs 21,410 million. In February, the government revenue was at Rs. 271,750 million and of that Rs. 208,620 million was spent. The balance was Rs 63,130 million. In January and February, the Treasury had Rs 84,270 million. These figures have been officially confirmed by a Deputy Treasury Secretary. The EC is seeking only Rs 2,460 million for elections. So, the claim that there is no money for elections is false as per official records. We will submit this information to the Supreme Court when we file a fresh application. We will prove that the government has lied to people,” Herath said.
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