Oxford vaccine will benefit low and middle income countries

Says pioneer of Oxford Covid vaccine, SL-born Dr Maheshi 

By Sunil Jayasiri  

Sri Lankan born Dr. Maheshi Ramasamy, the Principal Investigator for the Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine trial, has said that the oxford vaccine which will be available by end of 2020 at a low cost, will benefit low and middle income countries.  

During a webinar with the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in London Saroja Sirisena Dr. Ramasamy has said that that the Pfizer vaccine will be rolled out across the UK next week.  
“One of the strengths that Sri Lanka has is its high female literacy rate,” Dr Ramasamy had told the High Commissioner.  
“Sri Lanka is very proud that a Sri Lankan is a part of this vaccine trial,” the High Commissioner had told Dr. Ramasamy.   Dr. Ramasamy had also said that she missed Sri Lanka and is eagerly waiting to visit her family back in Sri Lanka once the COVID-19 pandemic  is over.  

Dr. Ramasamy, who has schooled for a very brief period at Visakha Vidyalaya in Colombo (several months) and has done her O/L and A/L at Stafford International School in Colombo, has been living in the UK for 18 years with her husband and two children.   She is currently a University Lecturer, serving for the NHS Foundation Trust affiliated to the University of Oxford. Accordingly, she serves as the Principal Lecturer at Megan Medical College.  
According to UK media the UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech Coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for mass vaccination.  

Britain’s medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), says the jab, which offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19 infection, is safe to be rolled out.  

The first doses are already on their way to the UK, with 800,000 due in the coming days, Pfizer had told media.