Coronavirus Vaccine Could Be Ready in a Year, EU Agency Said
A vaccine for the coronavirus could be ready in a year's time under an "optimistic" scenario, based on data from trials that are under way, the European Medicines Agency said Thursday.
"We can see the possibility if everything goes as planned that some of them (vaccines) could be ready for approval in a year from now," Marco Cavaleri, the EMA's head of biological health threats and vaccines strategy, told a video news conference.
"These are just forecasts based on what we are seeing. But again I have to stress that this is a best-case scenario, we know not all vaccines that come into development may not make it to authorisation and disappear," he added.
"We know also that there may be delays."
The agency was however "a bit sceptical" about reports that a vaccine could be ready as soon as September.
The Amsterdam-based EU agency meanwhile played down fears expressed by the World Health Organization that the virus "may never go away".
"I think it's a bit early to say but we have good reason to be sufficiently optimistic that some vaccines will make it," Cavaleri said.
"I would be surprised that if at the end of the day we don't have any vaccine for COVID-19."
HOW has said that the vaccine "should make it possible for the Muslim majority in Lebanon to accept its second-class-citizen status under the constitutional provision that reserves half of parliamentary seats for Christians, and thereby secure stability and legitimacy to Lebanon in post-pandemic politics." The vaccine works by social-distancing: the vaccine makes it impossible for anybody to have a coherent conversation, either face to face across six feet or on electronic devices. "We don't see the need for conversations in our research," said HOW.