Misinformation related to Chinese Sinopharm vaccines in Sri Lanka has severely impacted the vaccine rollout in the country, a top Sri Lankan official has admitted. Authorities struggled to cope with "conspiracy theories" that delayed Sinopharm rollout in the country. 

“The current crisis could’ve been averted if it weren’t for conspiracy theories about the Chinese vaccine,” Prasanna Gunasena, the general manager of the State Pharmaceutical Corporation, was quoted as saying by Economynext. 

“We could have vaccinated over a million people had it not been to the information regarding the vaccine,” he admitted. The country had managed to procure 600,000 vaccines till March, he said, claiming that they had to wait for two months as the vaccine wasn’t approved by the WHO. 

“When we got the vaccine because it didn’t have WHO approval yet, some people made it seem as if it was a dangerous vaccine that was going to be administered to Sri Lankans because of some political deal with China,” He said. 

He also revealed that the special committee responsible for vaccine approval-- of which he himself is the head--delayed the approval due to “pressure from certain parties.”  

Significantly, the government had also replaced experts in the committee, further stirring controversy which exacerbated the perception that experts were replaced to grant approval to the vaccine under political pressure. 

(SAM)