Geneva: Potential coronavirus vaccines entering late-stage human trials don’t necessarily mean they are almost ready to be deployed widely to the general public, the World Health Organization said Thursday.
“Phase three doesn’t mean nearly there,” Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s emergencies program, said during a virtual panel discussion with NBC Nightly News Anchor Lester Holt hosted by the Aspen Security Forum. “Phase three means this is the first time this vaccine has been put into the general population into otherwise healthy individuals to see if the vaccine will protect them against natural infection.”
There are at least six potential vaccines in phase three human trials, including the ones from drug companies Pfizer and Moderna, Ryan said. There are more than 150 under development worldwide, he added.
Up until now, all the trials have been focused on safety and ensuring the vaccines generate an immune response in a small number of people, he said. “They are sort of gates that the vaccine has to go through. This is not a gate. It is a race for the vaccine now to demonstrate that it can protect larges numbers of people.”
While there is hope scientists will find a safe and effective vaccine, there is never a guarantee, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
