Do Not Bank Your Hopes On COVID-19 Vaccine – WHO

A Covid-19 expert from the World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr. David Nabarro has told CNN that the world should not bank its hopes in the Covid-19 vaccine for it might never come.

According to the expert, the Covid-19 pandemic might turn out to be another resistant virus, just like HIV where more than 30 years of research have never yielded a vaccine.

Currently, there are more than 100 vaccines being researched for Covid-19 with some of them already having entered human trials in an effort to tame the fast-spreading pandemic.

“There are some viruses that we still do not have vaccines against. We cannot make an absolute assumption that a vaccine will appear at all, or if it does appear, whether it will pass all the tests of safety,” he said.

Scientists had estimated that a vaccine for the deadly Coronavirus might be found within the next 12 to 18 months as countries continue to scramble for the cure and vaccine for the pandemic.

In Africa, Madagascar claimed to have found the cure for the virus with 80 percent of confirmed cases in the country has recovered from Covid-19. WHO has, however, warned countries against using unverified medicines.

“The public’s hopes are repeatedly raised and then dashed, as various proposed solutions fall before the final hurdle,” said the report.

READ: 20 Kenyan Health Practitioners Have Tested Positive Of Covid-19

Global stats

Globally, the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 stood at 3,820,689 on Wednesday. The number of confirmed deaths is at 265,094 while recoveries are at 1,303,097.

The United States of America still leads the world in the number of infections at 1,263,183 with the number of confirmed deaths standing at 74,807.

The United States has continued to witness an increase in the number of infections as Americans continue to defy orders to remain indoors saying it is a violation of their constitutional rights.

Closer home, Kenya had registered 582 cases by Wednesday after 47 new cases were confirmed in 24 hours.

READ: Kenya Bars Medics From Leaving To US During Covid-19 Pandemic