COVID-19 vaccine: WHO official hails 'good news' from early trials, warns 'there's a long way to go'

Geneva, July 20: The head of emergencies at the World Health Organization is hailing “good news” in results shown by two COVID-19 vaccine candidates in early trials, but warns “there's a long way to go.”

“We now need to move into larger-scale real-world trials,” Dr Michael Ryan told reporters at a news conference in Geneva.

“But it is good to see more data and more products moving into this very important phase of vaccine discovery.”

Oxford COVID-19 vaccine results out: Safe, induces immune response with mild side effects for some

Ryan's comments came as scientists at Oxford University, in a paper published in The Lancet, said their experimental vaccine had been shown to trigger a protective immune response in hundreds of people who got the shot.

Also in the medical journal, Chinese researchers published a study on their experimental vaccine, using a similar technique as the Oxford team, that reported an immune response. Ryan noted there are 23 COVID-19 candidate vaccines in clinical development, but until Monday only one had produced Phase 1 clinical data.