The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that a vaccine against COVID-19 may be ready by end of this year.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who gave the signal did not elaborate further though.
He said “We will need vaccines and there is hope that by the end of this year we may have a vaccine. There is hope.”
Tedros made this comment in closing remarks to the WHO’s Executive Board meeting that examined the global response to the pandemic.
He called for solidarity and political commitment by all world leaders to ensure equal distribution of vaccines when they become available.
“Especially for the vaccines and other products which are in the pipeline, the most important tool is political commitment from our leaders especially in the equitable distribution of the vaccines,” Tedros said.
He adds that “We need each other, we need solidarity and we need to use all the energy we have to fight the virus.”
There are nine experimental vaccines currently being developed, according to the WHO.
The WHO-led COVAX global vaccine facility hopes to distribute 2 billion doses by the end of 2021.
The COVAX facility has some 168 countries so far as members but neither China, the United States nor Russia are among them.
Source: Africafeeds.com
