Nobel Laureate Immunologist Peter Doherty Says Covid-19 Vaccine Is 'Very, Very Likely' Within a Year

Peter C. Doherty believes that there's actually a vaccine that has already been given to a lot of people in China

Australian Nobel Prize-winning immunologist Peter C. Doherty said that he believes Coronavirus vaccine will be ready by next year and there is an 80 percent chance that it will reach the people within 12 months.

During 'Ross and Russel' show, the Nobel laureate, who received the prize in Medicine in 1996, said, "I think it's [COVID-19 vaccine] very, very likely. I reckon we'll get there. We've avoided a lot of traps we kind of found out about ... over the years."

As per Prof Doherty who had written a book called Pandemics in 2012, there are already several promising SARS-CoV-2 vaccines that are in the final stage of trials. He noted also told the show presenters that "I think there's actually a vaccine." He claimed that the vaccine is been given to a lot of people in China, and "I also heard something may have been given in Indonesia, but we don't know much about that one."

Peter c Doherty
Peter c Doherty, Australian Nobel laureate Twitter

While talking about potential vaccines against the Coronavirus, he said a couple of candidates that are in what is called as phase three trial, "which means they're in 10,000 to 30,000 people out there in the community where they're likely to be exposed to the virus."

The Australian Immunologist and Coronavirus

The well-know Australian veterinary surgeon, Doherty in his book Pandemics, had predicted the development of a global pandemic and spread of infections and how to differentiate between bacteria and viruses. The first chapter of his book is on how the infection and immunity works. The book also includes some recommendations which could be helpful to many.

Peter c Doherty
Peter c Doherty, Australian Nobel laureate Twitter/ @leonardykris

However, he earlier said the epidemic prevention measures in China have worked well and the Asian country will help other nations in terms of vaccination efforts to defeat the novel Coronavirus, which has killed 732,000 people globally.

He also said aggressive measures like lockdowns, "augmented by diagnostic technology and contact tracing, as demonstrated at the outset in Wuhan, clearly works. Countries like Sweden that, with a well-educated community and good hospitals, have avoided doing this have not done well."

This article was first published on August 10, 2020
Related topics : Coronavirus
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