World Health Organisation (WHO) has said a number of potential vaccines that may be deployed in the treatment of COVID-19 are now in phase three clinical trials.
Phase 3 trials are conducted to confirm and expand on safety and effectiveness results from Phase 1 and 2 trials, to compare the drug to standard therapies for the disease or condition being studied, and to evaluate the overall risks and benefits of the drug.
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviews results from Phase 3 trials when considering a drug for approval.
WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, disclosed the vaccine research stage at a virtual conference on Monday.
He said;
A number of vaccines are now in phase three clinical trials and we all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection. However, there’s no silver bullet at the moment and there might never be. For now, stopping outbreaks comes down to the basics of public health and disease control.
Ghebreyesus, therefore, urged countries and international partners to focus more on testing, isolating and treating COVID-19 patients as well as tracing and quarantining their contacts.
He appealed;
The message to people and governments is clear: do it all. For individuals, it’s about keeping physical distance, wearing a mask, cleaning hands regularly and coughing safely away from others. Do it all.
Ghebreyesus said the message to people and governments was clear, which is;
Do it all, and when it’s under control, keep going! Keep strengthening the health system. Keep improving surveillance, contact tracing and ensure disrupted healthcare services are restarted as quickly as possible.
Keep safeguards and monitoring in place, because lifting restrictions too quickly can lead to resurgence. Keep investing in the workforce and communicating and engaging communities.
Last Friday, the Ethiopian met with the Emergency Committee on COVID-19 met on Friday and reviewed the current pandemic.
He said:
It was a sobering moment coming six months on from when the committee advised. And, I agreed that the outbreak constituted a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. At the time, Jan. 30, there were fewer than 100 cases and no deaths outside of China.
When the Committee met three months ago, three million cases of COVID-19 had been reported to WHO, and more than 200,000 deaths.
Since then, the number of cases has increased more than five-fold to 17.5 million, and the number of deaths has more than tripled to 680,000.
In addition to the direct toll COVID-19 is having, Ghebreyesus said the committee noted the health impact that disrupted services were having on a range of other diseases.
