By Spy Uganda
The Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development Hon. Frank Tumwebaze, has called upon the World Health Organisation (WHO) to keep updating the world about how far scientists have reached in their search for a Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine.
It should be noted that ever since the deadly virus broke out in Wuhan province in China last year, millions of people have died all over the world and to date many others are still dying, yet no scientists have come out with a vaccine. Not even those working directly under the WHO.
So while the WHO and other scientists are working tirelessly to find a vaccine for Coronavirus, Minister Tumwebaze is of the view that at least the WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, ought to be giving scheduled addresses and updates about the progress of the research to the world.
To make his point even clearer, Tumwebaze on Tuesday tweeted a message for Tedros thus; “I know scientific research takes time & any discoveries must undergo a number of mandatory protocols so as to guarantee efficacy, BUT given the urgent need for a #COVIDVACCINE, I suggest @WHO keeps updating us on progress of the various candidate #vaccines in offing. @DrTedros,” he suggested.
It should be noted that ever since the pandemic broke out, the WHO has maintained a systemic silence about the search for a vaccine, to the extent US President Donald Trump a few months ago accused the WHO of having had a hand in the spread of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration says it will make an eventual COVID-19 vaccine available for free to virtually anyone in the United States who wants it.
Insurance companies are expected to cover the vaccine for most Americans, according to a senior administration official at a briefing Tuesday to discuss the government’s efforts to develop a vaccine by the end of the year.
For those who are not insured, the official added, “Our role as the federal government is to ensure anyone who is vulnerable, cannot afford it and desires it gets it.”
The official said Americans would get any vaccine produced with federal funding before it would be made available to other countries.
On the other hand, a COVID-19 vaccine is also being developed in the United Kingdom and officials say it may be available by September.
If successful, and with fast-tracked approval from the regulator, the first few million doses of the vaccine could be available by September.
