"
In the best optimistic scenarios, we could have a vaccine in the heart of winter,
" against Covid-19, said Gilles Bloch, Chairman and CEO of Inserm, Monday September 28 on franceinfo.
"
There is an extraordinary mobilization of the scientific community, the industrial community, with 300 projects being launched around the world,
" he continued.
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According to Gilles Bloch, "
we can be reasonably optimistic because there are trials which are in phase three
", that is to say the last phase before possible marketing.
"
These trials on thousands of healthy volunteers provide elements of efficacy and safety
", continues the CEO of Inserm.
In a pessimistic scenario, "
we could find weakly effective vaccines
" because "
today there is no effective vaccine against a coronavirus that has been developed
" he recalls.
Clinical trials "
soon
" in France
Gilles Bloch prefers to remain optimistic and underlines the massive efforts made by North American countries, Europe and Asia and especially China.
Nevertheless, he remains cautious vis-à-vis the Russian vaccine: "
the available data is not yet convincing enough to put much hope on it, but maybe it will come."
We did not have access to enough data.
"
In France, clinical trials to find a vaccine against covid-19 will start "
very soon
" also indicated Gilles Bloch.
“
We set up a configuration at the request of the two supervisory ministries of Inserm - the ministry responsible for research and the ministry for health.
We have set up a recruitment platform for healthy volunteers, to be able to host large trials in France,
”he added.
"
The idea is to be able to accommodate trials of several thousand patients, we are aiming to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers
" concluded Gilles Bloch.