Good news on vaccine by early 2021, says WHO chief scientist

Good news on vaccine by early 2021, says WHO chief scientist

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:  27.08.2020

“By early 2021, we should have some good news (about Covid vaccine),’’ said Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist, World Health Organisation.

At the valedictory of the international conference on public policy and management hosted by the Centre for Public Policy at IIM-Bangalore on Wednesday, she said: “Then, there is the challenge of being able to scale and distribute it fairly around the world without letting the rich countries corner the limited doses. But India is in a good position because many companies are working on vaccine development, either on their own or in collaboration, and the nation is a manufacturing hub for vaccines.”

Responding to a question on how long the pandemic will last, she said eradication is not possible so development of a vaccine can protect vulnerable populations.

“The mortality rate is not going up in the second wave of the pandemic. This is probably related to demographics and other factors – we do not yet know why South Asia and Africa have lower mortality rates than Europe and the Americas,” she said.

“There have been warnings for health emergencies. Unless we have a system of strong surveillance, it can quickly go out of hand. What we do not have is public health cadre that is devoted to not just detection but also prevention, management, training and capacity building,” she said.