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A VACCINE AGAINST coronavirus could take more than a year to develop, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
Addressing a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that preparing a vaccine was planning for the “worst situation”.
But he acknowledged that development was a “balancing act”, adding that the imminent focus should be on public health solutions.
“We have to invest in preparedness and really use this window of opportunity to stay away from any serious crisis,” he said.
We have to strike a balance. The vaccine could be the long term, because it could take up to 12 to 18 months. And this is like preparing for the worst situation.
“It’s the simple public health solutions that we should do that should really be our focus, while of course preparing for the vaccine.
“That balancing act is very, very important. We do what should be done today and then we invest also in the future to prepare for the future.”
He called the current period of transmission a “window of opportunity that should not be missed”.
Dr Michael Ryan, executive director of the organisation’s health emergencies programme, told the briefing that “many, many” lives could be saved in the coming months – with or without a vaccine.
He said that development would be costly, warning that funds “cannot and should not” be pulled away from helping weaker health systems prepare for the coronavirus, also known as Covid-19.
“This isn’t a trade-off between one or the other. We can save many, many lives in the coming months, with or without a vaccine,” he said.
We all want to invest in the vaccine as a long-term solution but there are people sick now. There are health systems that are vulnerable now.
He added: “We can save a lot of lives through support of therapy by testing the drugs we’re currently testing, and by getting everything in our systems working. And then we do the other things and you develop the vaccine.”
When asked about vaccine development, Dr Sylvie Briand, director of epidemic and pandemic diseases at the WHO, said a candidate vaccine could be “around 16 weeks from now”.
But she added that there would then be months of tests to decide if any potential vaccine can be used on humans.
“It’s still a matter of weeks – months,” she told the briefing.
A study into the disease
A study among 72,000 confirmed, suspected and clinically diagnosed cases showed that 81 percent of patients had only mild infections.
The study released by China’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention also showed the death rate stood at 2.3%, falling below 1% for people in their 30s and 40s.
WHO officials said the COVID-19 illness was “less deadly” than its cousins, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.
But it is higher than the mortality rate for the seasonal flu, at around 0.1% in the United States.
Ryan said the outbreak was “very serious” and could grow, but stressed that outside Hubei the epidemic was “affecting a very, very tiny, tiny proportion of people”.
There have been some 900 cases around the world, with five deaths in France, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
- with reporting from AFP
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The American military have dropped worse things on Japan.
@michael: Baseball?
@michael: so True, and “regrettable” who writes that stuff, regrettable is when you forget to get milk .
Why would they have to fly over a school? Also, where is the justification of having a military base outside of US territory?
@Andy K:
If any flight path had to avoid every school, hospital or any other place with a high level of footfall then we would have to stop flying altogether.
As for the bases outside of the US, the Japanese asked them to be there.
@Andy K: Kim Jong Un
@Andy K: the upcoming War with North Korea I’d surmise ?
@Thought for Food: Hmm, I did not know Japanese forces requested the US to stay there. I thought it was more like what happened in Germany where there was no peace treaty signed after WW2.
And I do not mean to stop every aircraft flying over schools, but a helicopter is a different scenario. They can easily change their flight path.
@Andy K:
Again, no they can’t if they had to for every school or other high traffic area. This is one incident out of tens of thousands of flyovers and there were no casualties. Statistically the cars driving past are far more dangerous.
As for the American presence in Japan, the US and Japanese governments signed an agreement where the Japanese would forego an offensive military and in exchange the US would provide military protection from external threats to Japanese sovereignty.
@Andy K: when a football team is playing another football team they’ll send scouts to the other teams training ground to watch them train before a big game. Id say it’s much like this
@Andy K: ah Andy. Uk, Philippines, South Korea, etc etc. Wakey wakey
@Thought for Food: that’s not really true. It is a forced occupation that Japan pays billions of dollars every year to the US to be there. At the end of the US occupation of Japan after WW2, the US changed that “land occupation” into a protective force that Japan has to pay for. Officially Japan requested it, but in reality it was forced by the US who can control access to the Pacific Ocean, and keep an eye on China.
@Thought for Food: now having said that, China claims the Okinawa islands as theirs, so if the US decided to leave that place, China would jump on it. Okinawa is strategically way too important to be left alone unfortunately. Control of Okinawa controls the access to the Pacific Ocean. I don’t think the US will never leave that place.
@Andy K: to defend the rest of you who won’t or can’t defend yourself. Bitch and complain you ungrateful whatever. Security is secured with blood and sweat. How about some of yours for awhile.
I wonder was it a new, clear window?
Of course they are taking it “very seriously “, those doors aren’t cheap you know.
@Larry Doyle: windows
Wasn’t “regrettable” the word used when paramilitaries killed, maimed or injured others than whom the incendiary/viable device was intended for? They never worked out that human beings are sentient, except maybe when a device went off prematurely in the bomber’s hand. And only of late are we realising that animals can feel – even marine life has feelings. Humanity – “a joke in progress.” And before someone says, “speak for yourself!” …I DO.
@Paul Jennings:
What about plants, do they not have feelings too?
@Nick Allen: Actually, they do. They can feel pain and they also react to plants nearby being injured or killed. There have been numerous studies and they seem to show that plants to have feelings.
@Nick Allen: well I take care of mine and talk to them even. They don’t also respond no matter how much t.l.c. I give them. In fact sometimes they seem to absolutely thrive on neglect. We don’t speak the same language. A bit like some of the women I’ve encountered. Self sentient primarily.
“Ooh,shut that door!
@gerry fallon: it’s the window Gerry.
Let’s hope the North Koreans don’t invade anytime soon with the keystone cops on this base.
It could have been a real pane in the neck.
“Regrettable”? Seriously?
Regrettable ? No shiiiit sherlock !!
A piece left over from WW11
New bomb. Glass
have your say