Leader of the House, Susil Premajayantha says that the stock of Pfizer vaccines brought to Sri Lanka will expire by the end of October this year.

He stated this in response to a question raised by SJB MP Kins Nelson in the parliament today (Sep 07) with regard to the importation of relevant 8 million Pfizer vaccines.

MP Nelson questioned about granting permission to import this vaccine consignment at a high cost of USD 10-15 per jab. “Are these vaccines stored according to the proper standard? Who gave permission to import them [at a time] when we don’t even have dollars?”

Minister Premajayantha responded that the vaccines were imported according to a certain calculation.

Mentioning that some people have not even obtained the third dose, the lawmaker said the Ministry of Health has emphasized repeatedly to take the vaccine before the risk of Covid-19 increases, said Minister Premajayantha. “I took the fourth dose too.”

Further, he also stated that the vaccines have not been brought in excess but as per the requirement.

“I agree that the Ministry of Health should pay more attention to show the seriousness of this and carry out a promotional program to encourage people to obtain the vaccine. There is no storage problem. The statement is true and the vaccines should be administered before the end of October,” Minister Premajayantha said further.