SINGAPORE – The world must remain vigilant for the next six months, when the coronavirus vaccine will be launched, as it will take time before most of the population is vaccinated, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist told CNBC.
D We. “We are going to the beginning of the end, we will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Soumya Swaminathan said on Wednesday. “However, there is still a tunnel we have to go through, and the next few months will be very crucial.”
Confirmed cases of Covid-19 are growing at an alarming rate, with global infections peaking at 78 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The vaccine has been approved by Pfizer-Bioentech for emergency use in countries including the UK, US and Canada, while the USA has also approved Moderna.
While we can look forward – certainly by the end of next year – toward a better picture, I think, the next few months will be difficult.
Soumya Swaminathan
Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization
Swaminath said the vaccine would initially protect a small group of people who were very vulnerable and most at risk and would spend months covering the rest of the population.
He told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Wednesday that “the population in some countries is starting to see some level of immunity coming in until the end of 2021.”
“We have to keep our guard, we have to do all the things we know that lowers the transmission and makes people less likely to get sick from it,” he said. These include public health measures and individual behavioral changes.
“While we can look forward – certainly by the end of next year – to a better picture, the next few months, I think, will be difficult.”
New strains in the UK
Separately, Swaminatha recently discussed a new strain of the virus that emerged in the United Kingdom, and its identification took place in countries including Australia, Denmark and Italy.
He said it is unusual because it has a large number of changes and has distinguished itself from the average stress.
“More worryingly, there are about eight mutations in the field of spike proteins.” The spike protein of the virus attracts receptors found on the surface of human cells in the respiratory tract or ACE2 receptors in the case of Covid-19. The process of mutation is found in the part of the protein that binds to receptors in the respiratory tract.
“This is the reason why the virus seems to be beneficial in infecting people. It seems to be transmitted more effectively. It seems that children who have these receptors are deficient,” she said.
People wear protective face masks when shopping at Union Square Greenmarket on December 4, 2020 in New York City.
Nom Galai | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
But she notes that the new variant “does not increase clinical severity or make things worse” for those who become infected.
The WHO said in a note that the strain could “spread more easily”, but that “there is currently not enough information” to determine whether the mutation will alter disease, antibody response or vaccine effectiveness.
Swaminath said there was “no reason” to believe that the current vaccines would not cover him now. That’s because the vaccine produces a “broad immune response” that is likely to be effective against new strains.
However, if the vaccine needs to be tweaked, it can be done “easily”. “If there’s a need, it can happen,” he said. “But at the moment, I think most people believe that the current pay generation of vaccines should just work fine.”
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