Scottish Daily Mail

Vaccine for virus might not be found says Boris

- By Claire Ellicott Political Correspond­ent

BORIS Johnson last night warned that there was no guarantee the world would find a coronaviru­s vaccine.

The Prime Minister said we may be living with the disease for a long time – despite the UK being at the forefront of efforts to defeat it.

However, the Government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance gave a more optimistic appraisal, saying he would be ‘surprised’ if a vaccine wasn’t found.

Mr Johnson said at the daily press conference: ‘I hope, hope, hope that we will achieve a vaccine that can defeat the virus.

‘I’m hearing some very encouragin­g things from what’s going on at Oxford to achieve a vaccine.’

But he added: ‘This is by no means guaranteed. I believe I’m right in saying that even after 18 years we still don’t have a vaccine for Sars.

‘What I can tell you is that the UK is at the forefront of concert ing internatio­nal activity to try to deliver a vaccine.’

He said the Government was putting ‘huge sums’ into finding a vaccine, but added: ‘If you ask me am I absolutely certain that we won’t be living with this for a long time to come, I can’t say that.

‘It may be that we have to become ever more flexible, ever more agile, ever smarter in the way that we tackle, not just this infection, but potentiall­y future infections as well.’

In a foreword to his blueprint to relaxing the lockdown rules, published earlier, Mr Johnson said the Government needed to plan for a ‘worst-case scenario’ where scientists did not find a vaccine.

‘It is clear that the only feasible long-term solution lies with a vaccine or drug-based treatment,’ he said. ‘But while we hope for a breakthrou­gh, hope is not a plan. mass vaccine or treatment may be more than a year away. Indeed, in a worst-case scenario, we may never find a vaccine.

‘So our plan must countenanc­e a situation where we are in this, together, for the long haul, even while doing all we can to avoid that outcome.’

At last night’s press conference, Sir Patrick said of the prospect of a vaccine: ‘It’s a tough thing to do.’

But he added: ‘I’d be surprised if we didn’t end up with something.’

He also revealed that data shows that in London, around 10 per cent of people tested positive for coronaviru­s antibodies, showing they have had the virus. Across the country however, he said that amount was around 4 per cent.

Oxford University is one of the leaders in the global race to find a vaccine for the disease and has paired up with pharmaceut­ical firm AstraZenec­a to manufactur­e it.

Its drug reached the human trials stage at the end of last month and is one of the hopes for developing a workable vaccine.

Yesterday, the Office for National Statistics published a study showing 136,000 people in England were currently infected, equivalent to 0.24 per cent of the population.

 ??  ?? Deadly: The Covid-19 bug
Deadly: The Covid-19 bug

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