COVID-19 vaccine hopeful, despite difficulty: IVI chief

To vaccinate a good part of the world's population, it requires international cooperation: Kim

(Reuters) - International Vaccine Institute (IVI) Director General Jerome Kim said that the vaccine for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is hopeful, though vaccines are hard to develop.

Kim made the remarks in South Korea in an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) on April 3, saying that it is a remarkable achievement to have human trials in two months.

Kim estimated that a COVID-19 vaccine will be available in 12 to 18 months.

"The vaccines have been hardest to develop, vaccines against HIV, vaccines against tuberculosis or malaria. In those cases, the immune system’s response to, say HIV or TB, is not sufficient to clear the disease, to suppress the disease. For COVID-19, we’ve seen a lot of people who recovered, and we believe that those people are going to be immune to future infections, and that would raise some hope that we should be able to develop a vaccine," said Kim.

Before a vaccine is developed, scientists have to make sure that people recovering from COVID-19 infection have antibodies that can protect them against further infection. Scientist also have to know how the protective mechanisms work, according Kim.

On the failure to develop vaccines for other coronavirus diseases, such as the middle east respiratory syndrome, Kim said there is a chance that a vaccine for COVID-19 will be available, despite the difficulties involved.

"The vaccines have been hardest to develop, vaccines against HIV, vaccines against tuberculosis or malaria. In those cases, the immune system’s response to, say HIV or TB, is not sufficient to clear the disease, to suppress the disease. For COVID-19, we’ve seen a lot of people who recovered, and we believe that those people are going to be immune to future infections, and that would raise some hope that we should be able to develop a vaccine," said Kim.

To vaccinate a good part of the world’s population, it requires international cooperation, Kim said.

"Remember that if we have to vaccinate a good part of the world’s population, you know, even half of 7 billion people is 3.5 billion doses of vaccine. So no one company, even Johnson and Johnson committed to making a billion doses. A billion doses is not going to protect even the majority of people in this world. The world has mechanisms to distribute vaccine. We’re hoping that as we move forward, the companies and the organizations like Gavi, and governments like the government of China, the government of the United States are going to realize that, we together as a world have a lot at stake in making sure that everyone has access to effective vaccines," said Kim.