Over 100 coronavirus vaccines under development, says WHO head

The World Health Organisation chief said work on the possible vaccines is being accelerated

A police officer wears a headgear mounted with thermal temperature monitor during a nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus, in New Delhi, India. Reuters

Groom Sanjib Mandal, right, and bride Soma Roy wear masks as they perform rituals on their marriage ceremony at a Hindu temple amid the nationwide lockdown against the coronavirus, in Siliguri. AFP

A relative of a patient stands outside the General Hospital in Mexico City during the Covid-19 pandemic. AFP

A man wearing a face mask talks with a shopkeeper in a deserted street with rows of closed shops and restaurants near Gion, in Japan's ancient capital Kyoto. The streets of the tourist city are largely deserted as the number of foreign visitors declined more than 93 per cent from previous year, the local media reported in late April. EPA

Drivers and passengers are screened by healthcare workers from the DeKalb County Board of Health at a free swabbing site at The House of Hope Atlanta church in Decatur, Georgia, US. EPA

An elderly woman holds a French flag as residents of Saint Mande celebrate the end of containment measures and thank medical and health care personnel amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in Saint Mande, near Paris, France. France begins a gradual easing of lockdown measures and restrictions although the Covid-19 epidemic remains active. EPA

Health personnel from the Villa Nueva National Hospital stand in front of the entrance of the hospital to address a press conference in Villa Nueva, Guatemala. The health personnel treating coronavirus patients threatened to 'enter a permanent session', in which certain areas of service will receive reduced attention, within 48 hours if they do not receive help from the authorities because of the lack of human resources. EPA

A boy wearing a mask looks at himself in the shop mirrors in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China. China reported 17 new confirmed Covid-19 cases on May 10 , seven of which were reportedly linked to Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to National Health Commission of China. EPA

A patient affected by the Covid-19 speaks with a family member by a video call at a field hospital set up at a sports gym, in Santo Andre, Sao Paulo state, Brazil. AFP

People wait on a tramway dock as they follow social-distancing rules, in the French Riviera city of Nice, southern France, on the first day of France's easing of lockdown measures against the coronavirus. AFP

Workers of the health ministry prepare to test the employees of the Ciudad de Dios market for Covid-19 in Lima. AFP

People practice social distancing inside an elevator as they head to their work places at World Trade Centre, after the government announced that private and state companies will reopen after almost two months of lockdown to contain the coronavirus, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Reuters

A migrant workers' family desperate to reach their home in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh state hitchhike behind a lorry in India's commercial capital Mumbai that will take them to the outskirts of the city. India’s train network, closed in late March, will gradually restart operations on Tuesday as the country eases its lockdown amid a steep rise in the coronavirus infections. AP Photo

The World Health Organisation chief said on Monday there are around seven or eight “top” candidates for a vaccine to combat the novel coronavirus and work on them is being accelerated.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a UN Economic and Social Council video briefing the original thinking two months ago was that it may take 12 to 18 months for a vaccine. But he said an accelerated effort is underway, helped by $8 billion (Dh 29.3 billion) pledged a week ago by leaders from 40 countries, organisations and banks for research, treatment and testing.

He said the $8 billion will not be enough, and additional funds will be needed to speed up the development of a vaccine, but more importantly to produce enough “to make sure that this vaccine reaches everyone — and there’s no one be left behind.”

“We have good candidates now,” Mr Tedros said. “The top ones are around seven, eight. But we have more than a hundred candidates.”

“We are focusing on the few candidates we have which can bring probably better results and accelerating those candidates with better potential,” he said.

Mr Tedros did not identify the top candidates.

Since January, he said, “WHO has been working with thousands of researchers all over the world to accelerate and track vaccine development from developing animal models to clinical trial designs and everything in between.”

Mr Tedros said there is also a consortium of more than 400 scientists involved in vaccine development and diagnostics.

The WHO chief stressed that Covid-19 is “very contagious and it’s a killer,” with over 4 million cases now reported to the WHO and almost 275,000 lives lost.

While new cases are declining in Western Europe, they are increasing in Eastern Europe, Africa, south-east Asia, the eastern Mediterranean and other regions, he said.

Mr Tedros said “the pandemic is teaching us many painful lessons,” especially the importance of having strong national and regional health systems.

“And yet on current trends, more than five billion people will not access these essential services by 2030” — the ability to see a health worker, access essential medicine, and have running water in hospitals, he said.

He stressed that as the response to Covid-19 continues, nations must also lay the foundations for a healthy, safer and fairer world.

“The world spends around $7.5 trillion on health care each year, almost 10 per cent of global GDP, but the best investments are in promoting health and in preventing disease at the primary health care level which will save lives and save money,” Mr Tedros said.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told the briefing that all nations are “in it together” but the immediate priority must be the most vulnerable countries and communities.

She called for a new debt relief program for vulnerable countries so their economies can recover.

And she said measures to protect and stimulate the economy, from cash transfers to credits and loans must be targeted at women “who make up the majority of those in the hardest-hit informal economy, and who are at the forefront of the community response”.

The head of the International Labour Organisation said the UN agency estimates the equivalent of 305 million full-time jobs will be lost around the world in the second quarter of this year, which ends on June 30.

ILO Director-General Guy Ryder told the briefing that by comparison, only 22 million full-time jobs were lost immediately when the financial crisis hit in 2008-2009, “so you can see we’re in an entirely different place”.

Mr Ryder said it’s also often forgotten that 60 per cent of the global workforce of 3.3 billion have jobs in the informal economy, most of them women.

He said the ILO estimates that in the first month of the pandemic, with lock-downs and economic shutdowns, “these people have lost on average 60 per cent of their income, their revenues from work.” And they are concentrated in countries with scarce resources and the weakest social protection systems, he said.

Mr Ryder called for international cooperation to help those most in need and for stepped up efforts to keep enterprises alive, retain jobs, maintain the link between enterprises and workers even when they can’t work now.