Coronavirus Vaccine 'Unlikely' Before Spring 2021, Says Patrick Vallance
A coronavirus vaccine is “unlikely” to be available before spring 2021, Patrick Vallance has said, as he warned ministers not to be tempted to “over-promise”.
Speaking to MPs on Monday, the chief scientific adviser said the public, who face a winter of social distancing restrictions as the Covid-19 second wave gathers pace, need a “realistic picture” of how quickly the pandemic will end.
It follows Boris Johnson and other ministers hinting there was a “chance” a vaccine could be ready by Christmas or New Year.
Hearts also leapt when director-general of the World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus claimed earlier this month “there is hope” and a vaccine “could be ready by the end of the year”.
But Vallance decisively poured cold water on the idea such a vaccine would be available for widespread use in the UK.
He told MPs: “I have been clear right from January I thought it unlikely a vaccine for any sort of widespread use in communities [would be available] before at least spring next year.”
Vallance, one of the key figures advising government on the pandemic, also went further in his gloomy predictions.
He added: “If you think about the previous history of vaccines, the average time of making a vaccine from scratch is over ten years and it has never been done before in under five years at the very quickest.
“We are in an extraordinary situation where at least eight vaccines that are in quite large clinical studies around the world [...] so we will know I think we will know I think over the few months whether we have any vaccines that really protect and how long they protect for.”
A vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford, in collaboration with the pharmaceutical giant Astra Zeneca, is among those in the final stages.
Vallance also warned, however, that a vaccine may not stop the disease completely.
“I think it is unlikely that we will end up with a truly sterilising vaccine that completely...
