COVID-19 vaccine could come within an year: WHO

GENEVA: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Secretary General, World health Organisation, has said that it might take scientists about an year to develop the vaccine for COVID-19. Speaking at a video conference with the deputies of European Parliament’s health committee, Tedros said that if the area, of a vaccine becomes a reality, it would be made available to all.

He also said that it is uncertain to predict exactly when the vaccine would be discovered, as nothing similar to the vaccine had ever been discovered before. However, he estimated that the time could be an year, but it could be sooner than that if work is accelerated. Tedros also announced that the WHO has more than 100 candidates for a vaccine. One is currently on advanced stage of development.

“It would be very difficult to say for sure that we will have a vaccine,” Tedros said. “We never had a vaccine for a coronavirus. So this will be, when discovered, hoping that it will be discovered, it will be the first one,” he said. He said the WHO had already more than a 100 candidates for a vaccine of which one was at an advanced stage of development.