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Concern over questionable meningococcal vaccine for Lankan Hajj pilgrims
View(s):Hundreds of Sri Lankan Muslims departing for Hajj this year are being administered the mandatory meningococcal vaccine through unregulated means, with doctors suspecting the injection is being imported in regular passenger baggage with no guarantee of cold chain management.
The meningococcal vaccine is a compulsory requirement imposed by the Saudi authorities on pilgrims performing Hajj in Mecca as the risk of transmission is high in large crowds. Meningitis is rare in Sri Lanka.
When contacted, the Hajj Division of the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs said Sri Lankans departing on pilgrimage were obtaining the vaccine from the Medical Research Institute of the Ministry of Health.
But the MRI’s vaccine section confirmed that it had not had supplies of meningococcal vaccine for the past year. Separately, a GlaxoSmithKline spokesman said it stopped bringing the injection to Sri Lanka some years ago. There are no other importers and there is no current National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) registration for the meningococcal vaccine.
Pilgrims typically join one of many “Hajj groups” that organise their trips. These groups are being administered the vaccine through certain private-sector doctors, the Sunday Times learned. Being laypersons, the pilgrims do not inquire how the vials were obtained or the means by which they were imported, one family physician said.
This physician was approached by some pilgrims who asked him to give them the injection. “They said they had the vaccine and wanted me to administer it,” he said. “I refused to do it because I knew it was unregistered. I had checked with GlaxoSmithKline and they told me that neither the Government nor the private sector had the vaccine. Furthermore, my other patients had checked with all the private hospitals and they did not have it. You can’t give an unregistered product.”
There are, however, doctors who are administering the vaccines which are obtained “probably through bag sellers”. The Sunday Times saw photographs of vials obtained from India and it was unclear whether the cold chain had been maintained to international standards.
Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs Department Director Zainul Abdeen Muhammadh Faizal is currently in Mecca on pilgrimage. He was not aware that the vaccine wasn’t available at MRI or in hospitals. He said he, too, got the shot through a doctor who serviced the Hajj group that he was a member of. He undertook to inquire into the matter.
“Not only is there a risk of Sri Lankans contracting the disease if some of the vaccines prove faulty, but there is also the risk they will bring it back here,” the physician warned. Other doctors said the Government also had a responsibility to ensure the injection was available as students traveling to certain countries are also required to take it.
Meningococcal vaccines must be refrigerated between 2°C and 8°C (36°F and 46°F). In the transport of injections, the cold chain is typically checked at the point of manufacture, transport, storage and
administration.
“The big question is who regulated the imports of these vaccines,” the physician asked. “The regulator must do its job. And we have a duty to inform the Saudi authorities that we don’t have the vaccines. People have been given a false sense of security. What about Sri Lanka’s international health credentials if we are found to be complicit in the lie that the vaccine is being obtained from the MRI?”
When the vaccines are administered, it is listed on a card that each medical practitioner or institute can issue. No government seal is required. These certificates have been duly issued. Sri Lanka’s Hajj quota this year is 3,500 people.
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