LONDON: The World Health Organisation’s chief scientist, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, on Thursday said that the agency is optimistic and hopeful that the Covid-19 vaccines could be available before the end of this year.
Addressing a press briefing from Geneva on the latest coronavirus drug trial findings, the top WHO scientist also said that clinical trials have now definitively shown that anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine does not have an impact on preventing deaths from Covid-19.
In reference to a future vaccine against the deadly virus, she said there are about 10 candidates which are in human testing phase and at least three of them are entering the new promising phase-three stage which proves a vaccine’s efficacy.
“I’m hopeful, I’m optimistic, but vaccine development is a complex undertaking and comes with a lot of uncertainty. The good thing is we have many different vaccine candidates and platforms,” she said, adding that WHO’s focus is also on accelerating and scaling up a potential vaccine.
“If we are lucky, there will be one or two