Published 10:34 IST, July 21st 2020
Boris Johnson not '100% certain' of COVID-19 vaccine availability this year
The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed that it is unlikely that a COVID-19 vaccine will be ready by the end of this year.
- World News
- 2 min read
The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed that it is unlikely that a COVID-19 vaccine will be ready by the end of this year. As per reports, Johnson said that he was not fully ready to commit to a promise for a coronavirus vaccine arriving this year or even the following year in 2021.
'Not 100% sure': Johnson
As per reports, the British PM’s statement comes after Britain announced that it had reached two supply deals for two more possible coronavirus vaccines that were currently in development. The two deals that the UK had signed were with an alliance of Pfizer and Biotech, and French group Valneva.
According to UK business ministry, the UK has agreed on a deal for 30 million doses of vaccine from BioNTech/Pfizer and agreed to secure 60 million doses of vaccine, with an option to acquire another 40 million doses of the vaccine if it is proven to be “safe, effective and suitable from Valneva.
The British government also reportedly entered a deal with AstraZeneca in order to acquire one million doses of a treatment containing COVID-19 neutralising antibodies. This treatment will help those that do not get the vaccine.
UK to distribute anti-body test kits
The United Kingdom recently unveiled plans to distribute millions of the finger-prick tests that could tell a person withing 20 minutes if they have been exposed to the coronavirus. As per reports a UK government-backed version of the test recently passed its first major trial and thus the UK plans on distributing millions of the test kits to people for free.
Updated 10:34 IST, July 21st 2020
