I stand with my original warning on COVID vaccines: Virologist

• One has to conduct proper research before releasing a vaccine to the market. It takes at least 7 years to be completed

By Yohan Perera  

I still stand with my original stand that no proper research has been done on COVID-19 vaccines before releasing them to market, Member of Parliament Tissa Viharana said.  

Prof.Vitharana warned three years ago that COVID-19 vaccines are not perfect in general terms as they had been developed hurriedly when the globe was suddenly hit by the Pandemic.   

“ One has to conduct proper research before releasing a vaccine to the market. It takes at least 7 years to be completed, Dr. Vitharana said.  

Prof.Vitharana who is a virologist by profession said wrong policies had been followed with regard to COVID during the Pandemic period. Prof. Vitharana also recalled that he was not included in any of the expert committees appointed to look into COVID 19 during the pandemic.   

Earlier he said that vaccines were not perfect generally as they were produced hurriedly unlike the vaccines which had been produced for other diseases. “It took at least seven years for medical experts to produce vaccines for measles, polio and chickenpox and were perfect but COVID- 19 vaccines had been produced hurriedly.  Therefore COVID- 19 vaccines may not be perfect,” Professor Vitharana said.