LONDON 5 Aug (ANA) - A vaccine against the coronavirus will be available in 2020 and 2021, a leading pandemic adviser to the UK government has suggested.

 

Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of health research charity Wellcome Trust, told the BBC's HARDtalk programme that huge progress was being made.

 

"In the last seven months since I have been involved, the progress is absolutely staggering and there are now first generation vaccines. There’s probably five or six of them - from the US, from Europe, from China, from Russia - that are becoming available," he said.

 

Despite the optimistic tone, he also urged caution, saying the first generation of vaccines would not solve everything.

 

The comments echo those of the World Health Organization (WHO) chief, who said this week there might never be a "silver bullet" for Covid-19.(ANA)

FA/ANA/5 August 2020----------