There is hope for coronavirus vaccine by end of year, says WHO boss

The head of the World Health Organisation has said there is hope for a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO's director-general, called for solidarity in the fight against the virus.

Dr Ghebreyesus also urged world leaders to commit to distributing any successful vaccines fairly.

He said countries must support each other so that the world can “recover together”.

Addressing a special session of the WHO executive board while wearing a mask, he said: “There is hope that by the end of this year we may have a vaccine. There is hope.”

He added: “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.”

Describing political commitment as being “crucial”, he said: “We should recover together and support those who need support.

"That will help us to open the world together, or for the world to recover together.”

He added: “We need each other, we need solidarity, and we need to use all the energy we have to fight the virus.”

Last month, the UK Government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said small amounts of a coronavirus vaccine could be made available to certain groups of people before the end of the year.

He added that it was “much more likely that we’ll see vaccines becoming available over the first half of next year, again not certain but pointed in the right direction”.

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