Kovid-19: UBC expert says vaccine should be available by March

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Murthy said Canada was also part of a global coalition around the world, funding trials for more vaccines.

“If someone gets regulatory approval, you get a certain amount,” he said. “It leveled the playing field so that everyone in the world would be vaccinated at least initially in their population.”

Clinical trials are increasingly taking place in countries such as the US, Brazil, the UK and India, where the disease is widespread with a large number of illnesses.

Murthy said the World Health Organization has a vaccine success threshold of 50 percent, meaning that one vaccine can prevent the disease in at least 50 percent of those who are vaccinated in a safe way.

Flu vaccines provide 25 to 75 percent effectiveness depending on the year.

“I believe the vaccine is effective, even if it is a long-term immunity, it remains unclear,” Murthy said.

He warned that his spring assessment was for a vaccine approved by Health Canada and that it would be available in great quantities.

“Then how it is distributed to each province‌ and first the population is targeted,” he says.

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