A Covid-19 vaccine could be released in March 2021 to the most vulnerable, which along with other advancements could fundamentally change the course of the pandemic, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official said Monday.
Bruce Aylward also told the WHO annual ministerial meeting that the announced interim results of Pfizer Inc.’s late-stage vaccine trials were “very positive.”
“There is still a lot of work to do, these are only interim results … but some very positive results are expected today that should be very promising for the whole world as we move forward,” Aylward told the 194 member state forum.
Pfizer said its experimental Covid-19 vaccine with its partner BioNTech was more than 90% effective.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted shortly thereafter: “We welcome the encouraging vaccine news from @pfizer and @BioNTech_Group and salute all scientists and partners who are developing new, safe and effective tools to beat # Covid19 “.
Aylward, referring to the three pillars of the ACT Accelerator (Access to Covid Tools) launched in April, said: “In diagnostics, we are in a position to massively expand testing globally, in therapeutics we have enough tools at this time to substantially reduce the risk of dying from this disease and in the area of vaccines, especially with today’s news, we are about to have the readiness to implement doses for high-risk populations late in the first trimester, early in the second trimester. ”
However, he warned that an “acute funding gap” of $ 4.5 billion could slow access to tests, drugs and vaccines in low- and middle-income countries.
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