Coronavirus: vaccine pipeline bulges, but many won’t move out of the laboratory
- After an unprecedented effort to develop them, the WHO says more than 81 candidates have entered or passed human trials
- More than 350 million people have been immunised so far, however current vaccines are seen as works in progress
WHO’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said in an interview with Bloomberg that up to eight new Covid-19 vaccines, which would not require needles or cold storage, could be ready for use later this year or in 2022.
An ideal vaccine needs to tick a lot of boxes: highly effective against infection and disease transmission; offers long-lasting protection; safe, with a lack of side effects; easy to ship and store, ideally at room temperature; and simple and cheap to make.
But many under development for Covid-19 are unlikely to progress beyond the laboratory, said professor Adrian Esterman, chair of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of South Australia.
“Many of these more than 200 candidate vaccines will never reach clinical trial phase or will be stopped during the clinical trial phase,” he said.