translated from Spanish: WHO expects “millions of doses” of a vaccine by the end of 2020

The World Health Organization (WHO) was “optimistic” and said it expects “hundreds of millions of doses” of coronavirus vaccines by the end of the year.” We are working with the prospect that we will have a couple of hundred million doses by the end of the year, if we are very optimistic,” said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan. We hope that by the end of 2021 we will have 2 billion doses of one to three effective vaccines to distribute worldwide,” he said, but stressed that it is a probability, as so far there are no proven vaccines. However, he insisted that these figures are not certainties and that they depend on the final outcome of clinical trials conducted to try to find a vaccine. Thus, WHO works with these assumptions for the “acquisition, distribution and fair distribution” of a vaccine.

“But developing a vaccine is a complex task, it comes with a lot of uncertainty. The good thing about this is that we have a lot of vaccines and platforms so that, even if the first one fails, or if the second fails, we don’t lose hope, we’re not going to give up,” he said. About 300 vaccines are currently in trials and three are nearing the start of the final phase of human testing. They are that of the University of Oxford, that of the Modern Company and another in China.In terms of the fair and equitable distribution of a vaccine against COVID-19, Swaminathan detailed that it depends on support and investment in the Global Access Fund for COVID-19 Vaccines, known as COVAX, a mechanism proposed by the GAVI alliance and WHO, as part of its initiative to accelerate vaccines and treatments against COVID-19.” We can only do that if the world unites, if countries come together and accept this mechanism,” he said, while indicating that WHO proposes a framework that could be used to decide who should be prioritized.” Like, for example, drivers and ambulance workers and other health workers, but also the police, those who work in supermarkets, sanitation workers, these are the people who are very exposed,” he said. Also, people at risk who would also benefit from a vaccine include the elderly and people with hypertension, diabetes and dementia.” People in prisons, nursing homes, factories and urban slums where outbreaks have been identified should also receive the vaccine as a priority,” said Swaminathan, who has emphasized the need to change the current innovation model because “there are no vaccines developed for diseases for which there is no commercial value.” ON Tuesday, WHO welcomed the announcement by British researchers on the conclusion that dexamethasone – a drug in the steroid family – significantly reduces mortality in severe coronavirus patients.” It is the first proven treatment that reduces mortality in PATIENTS with COVID-19s under oxygen or respirator assistance,” said the body’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a statement. The study found that the low-dose treatment of this medicine reduced the deaths of patients connected to artificial respirators by one-third, and by one-fifth those in need of oxygen but had not reached this critical situation by one-third.” It is good news and I congratulate the British government, the University of Oxford and the many hospitals and patients in the UK that have contributed to this life-saving scientific advancement,” he said. For patients connected to mechanical respirators, Dexamethasone reduced the risk of death by 40 to 28%, while for patients who needed oxygen, treatment reduced the fatal risk from 25% to 20%. The study did not appear to help those who had mild symptoms and did not need outside help to breathe.
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Original source in Spanish

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