WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan warns that healthy and young people might have to wait until 2020 to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Priority will be placed upon health workers and those with the highest risks, she said.
Soumya said that “Most people agree, it’s starting with healthcare workers, and frontline workers, but even there, you need to define which of them are at highest risk, and then the elderly, and so on.” She also said that healthy young people might have to wait until 2022 to get a vaccine.
Soumya also warns about an increase in the death rate with the increasing number of cases. Two of the vaccine candidates have been paused due to safety concerns.
This comes right after German sees the highest daily number of infections since the beginning of the pandemic, while the UK is on the verge of a second lockdown. France imposed a curfew in Paris and eight other cities from Saturday. Spain and Netherlands have closed its bar and restaurants and also imposed restrictions on alcohol sales.
The global infections have crossed 38 million with deaths of over 1 million.
