Boris Johnson issues grim warning that scientists can NEVER find a coronavirus vaccine

Boris Johnson warned last night that there was no guarantee that the world would find a coronavirus vaccine.

The Prime Minister said that we could be living with the disease for a long time, despite the UK being at the forefront of efforts to defeat it.

However, the government’s top scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, made a more optimistic assessment, saying he would be “surprised” if a vaccine was not found.

In a foreword to his plan to relax the blocking rules, previously released, Johnson said the government needed to plan for the “worst case scenario” in which scientists did not find a vaccine.

Johnson said at the daily press conference: ‘I hope, I hope, I hope we can get a vaccine that can beat the virus.

“I am hearing some very encouraging things about what is happening in Oxford to achieve a vaccine.”

But he added: ‘This is by no means guaranteed. I think I am correct in saying that even after 18 years we still do not have a vaccine for Sars.

“What I can say is that the UK is at the forefront of concerted international activity to try to administer a vaccine.”

Scientists shown above working on a prototype coronavirus vaccine in a laboratory in Bangkok, Thailand

He said that the government was putting “large sums” to find a vaccine, but added: “If you ask me, I am absolutely sure that we are not going to live with this for a long time, I cannot say that.”

“We may have to be increasingly flexible, increasingly agile, increasingly intelligent in the way we approach not only this infection, but also possible future infections.”

In a foreword to his previously released plan to relax the blocking rules, Johnson said the government needed to plan for the “worst case scenario” in which scientists did not find a vaccine.

“It is clear that the only viable long-term solution lies in a vaccine or drug-based treatment,” he said.

‘But while we look forward to a breakthrough, hope is not a plan. A vaccine or mass treatment can be more than a year away. In fact, in the worst case, we may never find a vaccine.

“Therefore, our plan must support a situation where we are together, in the long term, even while doing everything we can to avoid that outcome.”

A busy London underground train is pictured above this morning. Yesterday, the Office for National Statistics published a study showing that 136,000 people in England are currently infected, equivalent to 0.24 percent of the population.

At the press conference last night, Sir Patrick said of the possibility of a vaccine: “It is a difficult thing to do.”

But he added: “I would be surprised if we don’t finish with something.”

It also revealed that the data shows that in London about 10 percent of people tested positive for antibodies to the coronavirus, proving that they have had the virus.

However, across the country, he said that amount was around 4 percent.

The University of Oxford is one of the leaders in the global race to find a vaccine against the disease and has partnered with the pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca to manufacture it.

Her drug reached the human testing stage late last month and is one of the hopes for developing a viable vaccine.

Yesterday, the Office for National Statistics published a study showing that 136,000 people in England are currently infected, equivalent to 0.24 percent of the population.