A COVID-19 vaccine may be available for some groups later this year and more widely in the first half of 2021, according to the UK’s chief scientific adviser.
Sir Patrick Vallance gave the update at the end of his briefing in Downing Street on the pandemic amid a surge in cases and warnings of a second wave of the virus.
“I am pleased to say good progress is being made. Many vaccines now have shown they generate an immune response of a type that ought to be protective and several vaccines are in very late stages of clinical testing aiming to show they are both effective and safe,” he said.
Vallance went on to say that the UK, through the vaccines taskforce, has access to a number of the vaccines.
He added: “We don’t yet know whether they will work but there is increasing evidence that points in the right direction and it’s possible that some vaccine could be available before the end of the year in small amounts for certain groups.
“Much more likely that we’ll see things becoming available over the first half of next year … In the meantime, we have got to get in control of this.”
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Researchers around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, with more than 170 candidate vaccines now tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Vaccines normally require years of testing and additional time to produce at scale, but scientists are hoping to develop a coronavirus vaccine in a much shorter time frame.
Vaccines mimic the virus – or part of the virus – they protect against, stimulating the immune system to develop antibodies. They must follow higher safety standards than other drugs because they are given to millions of healthy people.
Trials of the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine have resumed after a brief pause to investigate the case of a participant who had fallen ill earlier this month.
The WHO has said it doesn’t expect widespread vaccinations against coronavirus until mid-2021.
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