Siriraj expects Covid-19 vaccine as early as mid-2021

Both Malaysia and Myanmar are experiencing a surge in infections, noted Dr Prasit Watthana, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University.
Offering a global snapshot of the Covid-19 situation, he said new cases are increasing at a rapid rate of about one million every two days, especially in Europe due to winter since most people stay indoors and do not wear face masks as protection against the virus.
Increased infection rates in places like the US, with 100,000 new cases daily, are also beginning to affect the ability of healthcare facilities to handle patients, he added. He expects total global infections to pass 10 million this week, with the death rate rising in parallel.
In Asia, well-controlled countries like South Korea, Singapore and Australia have relatively low infection rates, but the crisis in Thailand’s neighbours was getting worse, Prasit said.
Cases in Malaysia have surged to 800-900 per day, while Myanmar has seen 8,000 infections in the last 10 days.
On vaccine development, he said 148 trials were being conducted around the world.
Eighty-eight are at the animal-testing stage, 35 are at Phase 1, 14 are at Phase 2, and 11 are at the most advanced Phase 3 of mass human testing
Prasit said a vaccine is expected to be completed as early as mid-2021, adding that Phase 3 trials had a 50 per cent chance of success.
However, he emphasised that the best protection against Covid-19 was to wear a mask, keep your distance from others, keep hands clean, and avoid social contact where possible.