WHO expects widespread COVID-19 vaccine to be made available by mid-2021

The widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccinations is not expected until mid-2021, a World Health Organisation spokeswoman has said.

At a briefing in Geneva on Friday, Margaret Harris told journalists that the widespread vaccination of people is not expected by the middle of next year.

Harris stressed on the importance of having rigorous checks on the vaccine’s safety and efficiency.

“Phase 3 must take longer because we need to see how truly protective the vaccine is and we also need to see how safe it is,” Harris said when speaking about clinical trials.

“We are not expecting to see widespread vaccination until the middle of next year,” she stated.

Earlier in August, Russia announced that it had successfully managed to create a COVID-19 vaccine.

It said a vaccine had been given regulatory approval after less than two months of testing on humans.

Scientists in Germany, France, Spain and the United States have all urged caution.

Reacting to their concern, Moscow said such statement were “groundless”.

"It seems our foreign colleagues are sensing the specific competitive advantages of the Russian drug and are trying to express opinions that... are absolutely groundless," Russia's Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.

On Friday, 19 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded after 1,869 swab tests were carried out in the last 24 hours.

Active cases now stand at 406.

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