WHO hopes 6-8 new COVID-19 vaccines may be ready for use this year, says 'we can improve'

The COVID-19 vaccines including the ones that don't require needles or can be stored at room temperature may be ready for use later this year or next year. World Health Organization's Chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan in an interview with Bloomberg said that six to eight new COVID-19 vaccines may complete clinical trials soon. She added that vaccines that would undergo clinical trial will be then reviewed by the end of the year. 

Improved vaccines in next year

Soumya Swaminathan said that the new vaccines will add to the 10 vaccines that have already worked within one year of COVID-19 being declared as a pandemic. She said that to meet the requirement, the world needs more vaccines so that new virus strains are prevented from spreading. She said that a vaccine that presently exists is helpful for mankind.

She said that if new vaccines are developed then the situation would improve further. She added that society can see the emergence of improved vaccines in 2022. She said that the vaccines that are undergoing trial use alternative technology and include single shot inoculation that is administered orally or via a nasal spray into the body. These experimental vaccines can also be inoculated through the skin using a patch.

WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that research to develop more vaccines should be done. She added that there is a requirement for the development of more vaccine candidates. She added that due to practical and logistical challenges in some countries, the government can measure antibody levels in coronavirus survivors before the second jab of the vaccine. She said that WHO is now in discussions with several companies regarding COVID-19 vaccine development. She added that a global trial that involves people from across the world would be more useful. She said that people with different age groups, ethnicity, medical conditions would make the result more accurate.