While India is saying that it would roll out the indigenous COVID-19 vaccine COVAXIN the World Health Organization (WHO) has that no vaccine is expected to come earlier than 2021. WHO’s head of emergencies program, Mike Ryan said that with a handful of the vaccine in late-stage trials, their first use cannot be expected until early 2021.
“WHO is working to ensure fair vaccine distribution, but in the meantime, it is key to suppress the virus’s spread“, said Mike. There is good progress by researchers he added. There are several vaccines who have now moved in phase 3 trials and none of them had failed, so far, in terms of safety or ability to generate an immune response.
Mike said that early 2021 can be the time when the first use of the vaccine on patients is expected. The focus of WHO is also on making the vaccine available for as soon as it comes. “And we need to be fair about this because this is a global good. Vaccines for this pandemic are not for the wealthy, they are not for the poor, they are for everybody“, said the WHO expert.
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With the power of wealth nations like the U.S. has proposed to pay $1.95 billion to buy 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer Inc and German biotech BioNTech if it proves safe and effective. This could trigger the deadly rush of developed nations taking it all and the rest of nations having to wait. Meanwhile, the WHO cautioned schools to be careful about re-opening until community transmission of COVID-19 is under control.
