The chief scientist of the World Health Organization (WHO), Soumya Swaminathan, warned today that she does not expect possible vaccines against covid-19 to be available to the general population before two years, although the first risk groups they could be immunized in mid-2021. In the middle of last week a WHO spokeswoman, Margaret Harris, pointed out that they did not expect a generalized vaccination "before the middle of next year."
At that appearance, the WHO considered it encouraging that several vaccines are in the so-called phase 3 study, which involves testing tens of thousands of people, but warned that "there is still a long way to go."
At that time, a publication confirmed that the so-called Russian vaccine showed "encouraging results."
This Wednesday, however, the race for immunization has suffered a bump, because AstraZeneca and Oxford have stopped their trials after detecting that one of the volunteers has suffered a still unexplained disease that is being investigated.
"Many think that at the beginning of next year there will come a panacea that solves everything, but it will not be like that: there is a long process of evaluation, licensing, manufacturing and distribution," said the Indian expert in a question and answer session with Internet users through social networks.
Swaminathan indicated that the organization's most optimistic scenario is the first arrival of vaccines to various countries in the middle of next year, at which time priority should be given to the highest risk groups, since then they will not have been able to be produced yet. dose for the whole society.
"It is the first time in history that we need billions of doses of a vaccine," said the chief scientist of the WHO, who explained that at most in the massive annual vaccination campaigns against other diseases, hundreds of millions of dose.
In the selection of priority groups to receive the vaccine, the Indian expert insisted that “health workers should be the first, and as soon as more doses arrive, the oldest ones, people with other diseases, must be reached, to go like this covering more and more population, a process that will take a couple of years ”.
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Until then, Swaminathan stressed, "people must be disciplined", implying that they should continue current preventive measures (physical distancing, masks, hand hygiene ...) or the like.
The scientist also explained to Internet users how Covax works, the program with which the WHO and other international organizations financially help research into vaccines against COVID-19 in exchange for guaranteeing its distribution throughout the world. not just in the richest nations.
Swaminathan pointed out that around a hundred developing countries could benefit from this program, and that more than 70 have expressed interest in participating.
To do this, Covax is in negotiations with the main firms and institutions that research covid vaccines around the world to acquire large quantities of doses when they have proven their efficacy and safety.
"Some manufacturers have proposed cost prices, while others suggest that they be lower or higher depending on whether a country is more or less rich," revealed the expert about Covax's negotiations with pharmaceutical companies.
On the approximate price of the doses, Swaminathan indicated that currently it seems that it could range between 2 and 30 US dollars, although he assured that the market "is very dynamic and will change as more vaccines become available."
He also recalled that most states "vaccinate their citizens for free or at little cost" direct to the pockets of patients.
Covax is part of the WHO ACT Accelerator program, which covers not only vaccines but also diagnostic tools and therapies for patients with corovavirus.
After four months of launching these initiatives to guarantee universal access to tools against the pandemic, "tremendous progress has been made," said Swaminathan, who said that the speed with which vaccines and drugs are investigated will not be detrimental to the patient safety.
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