A possible vaccine against Covid-19 will probably not be available before 18 months, ruled on Saturday May 16 the Minister of Research Frédérique Vidal.
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" What the laboratories, the researchers tell us is that the acceleration we have seen in the development of clinical trials gives us hope for a vaccine within 18 months, but it is not reasonable to think we can go faster than that, except endangering the safety of people, "said Frédérique Vidal on Europe 1. She was asked about the assertions of Donald Trump who had hoped a few hours earlier" to have (a vaccine) by the end of the year, maybe before, ”as he said earlier in May.
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For its part, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had mentioned a delay of one year on Thursday, but according to an " optimistic " scenario .
" Research on the vaccine, everyone is well aware, is something that usually takes several years, " said Frédérique Vidal.
In addition, as the French executive has hammered it over the past few days, it deemed it " unacceptable (...) to reserve a vaccine for one country rather than another for financial reasons ".
A reference to the controversy provoked by the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi. He aroused indignation in Europe by announcing this week that he would distribute a possible vaccine as a priority in the United States which has invested 30 million dollars to support his research.
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Emmanuel Macron demanded that a vaccine should not be subject to " the laws of the market " while a spokesperson for the European Commission considered that it " must be a good of public utility and its access must be fair and universal ”. More than 100 vaccine projects exist around the world and a dozen clinical trials are already underway. In France, the Institut Pasteur will start clinical trials for its most advanced vaccine project in July and expects first results in October.
