Vaccine race is on

Global tensions simmered over the race for a coronavirus vaccine as the US and China traded jabs and France slammed pharmaceuticals giant Sanofi for suggesting the US would get any vaccine first.

Scientists are working at breakneck speed to develop a vaccine for Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, which has killed more than 300 000 people worldwide and pummelled economies.

From the US to Europe to Asia, governments are easing lockdown orders to get people back to work, while fretting over a second wave of infections.

Increased freedom of movement means an increased risk of contracting the virus and national labs and private firms are working to find the right formula for a vaccine.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) offered some hope when it said one could be ready in a year, based on data from clinical trials already underway.

But Marco Cavaleri, the EMA’s head of vaccines strategy, acknowledged that timeline was a “best-case scenario”, and cautioned “there may be delays.”

The race for a vaccine has exposed a raw nerve in relations between the United States and China, where the virus was first detected late last year in the central city of Wuhan.

Two US agencies warned on Wednesday that Chinese hackers were trying to steal vaccine research – a claim Beijing rejected as “smearing” its reputation.

US President Donald Trump, who has ratcheted up the rhetoric against China, said he doesn’t even want to engage with Chinese leader Xi Jinping – potentially imperilling a trade deal between the world’s top two economies.

“I’m very disappointed in China. I will tell you that right now,” he told Fox Business. “There are many things we could do. We could do things. We could cut off the whole relationship.”

On Capitol Hill, an ousted US health official told Congress that the Trump government had no strategy in place to find and distribute a vaccine to millions of Americans, warning of the “darkest winter” ahead.

“We don’t have a single point of leadership right now for this response and we don’t have a master plan,” said Rick Bright, who was removed last month as head of the US agency charged with developing a coronavirus vaccine.

The United States has registered nearly 86 000 deaths – the highest toll of any nation.

A row erupted in France after drug maker Sanofi said it would reserve first shipments of any vaccine to the United States.

President Emmanuel Macron’s office said any vaccine should be treated as “a global public good”.

Sanofi chief executive Paul Hudson said the US had a risk-sharing model that allowed for manufacturing to start before a vaccine had been approved, while Europe did not. – AFP