WHO chief scientist says young people may have to wait for COVID-19 vaccine until 2022

The World Health Organization’s chief scientist, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, during an online event said that healthy and young people might not be able to get the coronavirus vaccine until the year 2022 as the officials are more focussed on the elder people. She also emphasized on the need of ‘engaging communities’ in order to find solutions to battle the deadly coronavirus and also to implement them. She added that the authorities are still discussing about who should get the vaccine first but there is a chance that people who are more prone to teh virus will be prioritsed. 

Elderly people to be prioritized

Swaminathan said, “People tend to think that on the first of January or the first of April, I’m going to get the vaccine, and then things will be back to normal. It’s not going to work like that”. She added, “there will be a lot of guidance coming out, but I think an average person, a healthy young person might have to wait until 2022 to get a vaccine”. Swaminathan said that despite the trials for various vaccine candidates that were in process, “speedy, mass shots” were unlikely in the near future. 

The WHO scientist said that there will be minimum one effective vaccine to battle the virus by the years 2021. However, it will be available in "limited quantities". She also told that the WHO’s strategic advisory group of experts will be releasing a set of guidelines on how to logistically distribute the vaccine . 

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Recently, Russia gave approval to a second coronavirus vaccine after early-stage studies. Russian President Vladimir Putin made an announcement during a televised meeting as he said, "We now need to increase the production of the first vaccine and the second vaccine". Developed by the Vector Institute in Siberia, the vaccine has been tested among 100 volunteers as a part of the early-stage trials. As per the reports by AP, the volunteers were aged between 18 to 60. 

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(Image Credits: PTI/Pixabay)