The Committee of Experts appointed to study Covid vaccines has informed the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) that the information provided by the Chinese vaccine manufacturer was insufficient to determine the immunization, safety and efficacy of the vaccine developed in China against the Covid virus and that, therefore, the vaccine should not be used until further information is available.
The Committee of Experts has informed this to the Chief Executive Officer of the NMRA, Dr. Kamal Jayasinghe on March 17, submitting a report containing the results of the relevant observations.
Eleven questions had been submitted to the Beijing Institute of Biological Products in China, which produces this Chinese vaccine in order to obtain clinical data.
The manufacturing company has not answered 10 of these 11 questions, including how the vaccine makes antibodies, the clinical data on the vaccine after October 31, the time period observed to confirm the effectiveness of the vaccine, and the effectiveness of the vaccine for the age group over 60 years.
Therefore, the Committee appointed by the NMRA has stated that it is important to get specific answers to these questions in order to make an accurate assessment of the vaccine.
The study report was signed by Dr. Rajiv de Silva, Prof. Nilika Malavige, Prof. Arunasalam Pathmeswaran, Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama, Dr. Kanthi Nanayakkara, Prof. Channa Ranasinghe and Dr. Hasitha Tissera.
(Excerpt from Aruna newspaper)
