School children should not be used as guinea pigs: Ven. Thera

15 September 2021 09:00 am Views - 142

Calls on Govt. not to rush in vaccinating students

By Yohan Perera

Government should not rush into providing COVID vaccines to school children, a prominent Buddhist monk said yesterday.


Venerable Omlape Sobitha Thera who was speaking at a press conference of COVID Death Prevention Collective said it was not advisable to provide vaccines to school children at a time when there are uncertainties with regard to vaccines. 

“There is no consensus among the science fraternity with regard to providing COVID jabs for children. School Children should not be used as guinea pigs in such a situation,” Venerable Thera said.  


“ I have spoken to MP Professor Tissa Vitharana who is a Virologist and Professor Chandana Silva and they too hold the same opinion. Initially, it was stated that a person would be fully immunized by the COVID vaccine, Later it was said one will get the disease mildly as a result of the vaccine. Also, it was assured that one could get the disease but it would not be fatal. However the reality is that some who have had both jabs of the vaccine have succumbed to the disease,” he added.


“Vaccine cannot be taken out of human bodies once it is inserted. This fact should not be ignored,” he also said.