Coronavirus vaccine possible in early 2021, says EU agency

Coronavirus vaccine possible in early 2021, says EU agency

A vaccine to counter the new coronavirus could be approved in about a year in an "optimistic" scenario, an agency which approves medicines for the European Union said on Thursday.

Lauren Anthony reports.

A vaccine to counter the new coronavirus could be approved in about a year.

That's in an "optimistic" scenario, an agency which approves medicines for the EU said on Thursday (May 14).

The world is rushing to develop a vaccine.

And, the European Union, hard hit by COVID-19, fears it may not have sufficient supplies - especially if a vaccine were developed in the United States or China.

The European Medicines Agency is in communication with 33 developers.

And its head of vaccines, Marco Cavaleri, says it's doing all it can to speed up the approval process.

But that he was skeptical of claims any could be ready by September.

He ruled out the possibility of skipping the third phase of a vaccine trial, which he said was necessary to ensure a vaccine was safe and effective.

The EMA is also investigating 115 different therapeutics for the coronavirus.

Cavaleri said some of those treatments could be approved in Europe as early as this summer - though he did not specify which.

A leading EU lawmaker has also said, should a vaccine be developed outside the bloc, that the European Union should find a way around pharmaceutical companies' intellectual property rights - in an effort to make sure that the vaccine is available to all countries.

A new sign of the EU's fears that they could lag behind in the global race.

The U.S. and China have so far been cautious of supporting a global funding campaign plugged by the EU, which this month raised $8 billion to research, manufacture and distribute a possible vaccine and treatments for COVID-19.