WHO: Up to Eight Top Candidates for Covid-19 Vaccine Exist

Work is accelerating on up to eight leading candidates for a vaccine to combat the novel coronavirus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) chief said on Monday.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a UN Economic and Social Council video briefing the original thinking two months ago was that it may take 12 to 18 months for a vaccine.

But he said an accelerated effort was under way, helped by 7.4 billion euros (£6.4 billion) pledged a week ago by leaders from 40 countries, organisations and banks for research, treatment and testing.

He said these funds would not be enough, and additional money would be needed to speed up the development of a vaccine, but more importantly to produce enough "to make sure that this vaccine reaches everyone — (and) there's no one be left behind".

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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus   ✔@DrTedros    

There have now been over 4M #COVID19 cases across the world. Over the past week some countries have started lifting #StayHome orders & other restrictions in a phased way. @WHO outlined the 6 criteria they need to consider before lifting these restrictions.

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"We have good candidates now," Dr Tedros said. "The top ones are around seven, eight. But we have more than a hundred candidates.

"We are focusing on the few candidates we have which can bring probably better results and accelerating those candidates with better potential."

Dr Tedros did not identify the top candidates.

Since January, he said, the WHO had been "working with thousands of researchers all over the world to accelerate and track...