Take final decision on vaccines after December – Professor Malawige

Professor Neelika Malavige, of the Sri Jayewardenepura University, said it would be prudent to take a final decision on the three vaccines that are being trialled as a preventive measure for COVID-19, only after studying them up to December this year and not before that.

She said the new vaccine in the United States (US), the Oxford vaccine in the United Kingdom and the Morderna vaccine in the US have been trialled only for 60 days to date. She mentioned that the vaccines needed to be trialled for a further 60-day period.

Professor Malavige said usually a vaccine for a disease such as dengue would be trialled for a period of five years but stressed due to the severity of the threat posed to the people by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need to test the vaccines expeditiously.

(Source: Ceylon Today – By W.K. Prasad Manju)