Now ‘real hope’ to end COVID-19 with vaccines: WHO chief

TIL Desk/World/Geneva/ “There is now real hope that vaccines, in combination with other tried and tested public health measures, will help to end the pandemic,” said the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The WHO chief’s remarks came after drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine, developed with Oxford University, was up to 90 percent effective, making it the third major drug company after Pfizer and Moderna to have reported late-stage data for a potential COVID-19 vaccine.

“The significance of this scientific achievement cannot be overstated. No vaccines in history have been developed as rapidly as these. The scientific community has set a new standard for vaccine development,” Tedros added.

He pointed out now the international community must set a new standard for access, as “the urgency with which vaccines have been developed must be matched by the same urgency to distribute them fairly.”