Topline
“There is hope” that a vaccine against Covid-19 may be ready by the end of this year, the World Health Organisation’s Director-General said in his closing remarks to the global agency’s executive board on Tuesday without offering any additional details, according to a Reuters report.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for commitment and solidarity from global ... [+]
Key Facts
“We will need vaccines and there is hope that by the end of this year we may have a vaccine. There is hope,” Tedros said.
However, the WHO head called for solidarity and political commitment from all leaders to ensure equitable distribution of the vaccine when it becomes available.
Nine vaccine candidates in various stages of trials are part of the WHO-led COVAX global vaccine initiative that plans to distribute 2 billion doses by the end of 2021.
Big Number
172. That’s the total number of countries that have joined WHO’s COVAX initiative. However, this excludes the United States, China and Russia. The Trump administration has said that it will instead rely on bilateral deals to secure a supply of vaccines.
Crucial Quote
Dr. Amesh Adalja who is a Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security told Forbes that the year-end timeline is “extremely optimistic,” but noted that “there may be some sort of emergency approval that offers some availability for high-risk individuals like health care workers.” Esther Krofah, executive director of the Milken Institute thinktank, FasterCures, said that the timeline may be feasible for emergency use authorization of the vaccines being developed by Moderna and Pfizer.
Tangent
The White House, on Tuesday, blocked updated guidance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that would have required any Covid-19 vaccine to be reviewed by an expert panel and submit at least two months of safety data. The FDA’s guidance would have virtually made it nearly impossible for a vaccine to be made available by election day, the abbreviated timeline that the U.S. President has frequently touted as possible. According to the Associated Press, the White House officially blocked the guidance as it believed there was “no clinical or medical reason” for the additional requirement.
Key Background
According to the Milken Institute, some 213 Covid-19 vaccines candidates are in development at the moment of which only eight have begun large-scale ‘Phase-III’ clinical trials. America’s top infectious disease official, Dr. Anthony Fauci, had previously told the U.S. Congress that he’s “cautiously optimistic” scientists will be able to create at least one safe and effective vaccine by the end of the year or early 2021.
