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A coronavirus vaccine is the world’s best hope for a return to “normal” life, with up to 100 injections currently in development. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has only observed that a few have entered the later stages of development. Those selected few still have some time to go, and officials have warned against bank hopes that one will be completed.
When will a coronavirus vaccine be ready?
WHO is tracking vaccines currently in development, and nine are nearing completion.
Vaccines must undergo rigorous, large-scale efficacy testing before they are licensed and enter general circulation.
Among those in the penultimate stage of the trial are the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab and the US version that local health officials expect will have limited use by November.
READ MORE: Flu Vaccine 2020/21: When is the NHS Flu Vaccine Available?
The British vaccine does not yet have a proposed launch, and researchers are planning a debut “in mid-2021”.
However, Professor Chris Whitty, British Chief Medical Officer, has posted a more cautious time frame.
He told reporters that there was a “reasonable chance” of a vaccine before winter 2021.
Although he added that science “would get us out of this hole,” he said officials should assume that one would not come “before this side of Christmas.”
He said: “Obviously I would be delighted if it came earlier, but I would be quite surprised if we had a highly effective vaccine ready for mass use in a large percentage of the population before the end of winter, certainly before this side of Christmas.
“A lot of people are doing a great deal scientifically and logistically to make sure it’s a pessimistic statement, to try to see if we can get a vaccine at an extraordinarily fast rate, but we have to verify that it works and we have to make sure that it is safe.
“So I think that if we look forward one year, the chances are much greater than if we look forward to six months.
“We have to plan on the basis that we will not have a vaccine and then if one of them turns out to be effective, safe and available, we are in a strong position to be able to use it.”
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He added: “I am confident in the long term in the ability of science to pull us out of this hole, but I don’t think we can expect it to happen in the next few weeks or even the next few months.”
Developing vaccines outside of a pandemic is a long process, often taking years and in some cases decades.
Scientists must juggle urgency and safety and ensure that a finished product does not pose unnecessary risk.
The process is almost universal in the Western world thanks to strict licensing criteria, but some countries follow their own rules.
Vladimir Putin claimed that Russian scientists successfully developed the world’s first effective jab with full approval.
The Russian vaccine received regulatory approval last month and officials announced plans for its massive administration in October.
But scientists have raised concerns, suggesting that Putin cut corners to get the jab, called Sputnik-V, into circulation before the rest of the world.
The WHO has asked them to follow international guidelines and requested a review of the final product.
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