We don’t yet know exactly when a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine will be ready for distribution, but we estimate that it could be in early to mid-2021. Before COVID-19 vaccines can be delivered, several important challenges must be overcome:
- The vaccines must be proven safe and effective in large
- (phase III) clinical trials.
- Many potential vaccines for COVID-19 are being studied,
- and some of the large clinical
- trials may report results in late 2020 or early 2021.
- A series of independent reviews of the efficacy and safety
- evidence is required, including
- regulatory review and approval in the country where the
- vaccine is manufactured, before WHO considers a vaccine
- product for prequalification. Part of this process also
- involves the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety.
- An external panel of experts convened by WHO, called
- SAGE, will analyze the results from clinical trials and
- along with evidence on the disease, age groups affected,
- risk factors for disease, and other information, they will
- recommend whether and how the vaccines should be
- used. Officials in individual countries will decide whether
- to approve the
- vaccines for national use and develop policies for how to
- use the vaccines in their country based on the WHO
- recommendations.
- The vaccines must be manufactured in large quantities,
- which will be a major and unprecedented challenge –
- all the while continuing to produce all the other
- important life-saving vaccines already in use.
- As a final step, vaccines will be distributed through a
- complex logistical process, with rigorous stock
- management and temperature control.
