1 / 16Researchers are making “good progress” in developing vaccines against Covid-19, with a handful in late-stage trials, but their first use cannot be expected until early 2021, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert said on Wednesday.2 / 16WHO is working to ensure fair vaccine distribution, but in the meantime it is key to suppress the virus’s spread, said Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s emergencies programme, as daily new cases around the globe are at near-record levels.3 / 16“We’re making good progress,” Ryan said, noting that several vaccines were now in phase 3 trials and none had failed, so far, in terms of safety or ability to generate an immune response.4 / 16“Realistically it is going to be the first part of next year before we start seeing people getting vaccinated,” he told a public event on social media.5 / 16WHO was working to expand access to potential vaccines and to help scale-up production capacity, Ryan said. “And we need to be fair about this, because this is a global good. Vaccines for this pandemic are not for the wealthy, they are not for the poor, they are for everybody,” he said.6 / 16The US government will pay $1.95 billion to buy 100 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer Inc and German biotech BioNTech if it proves safe and effective, the companies said.7 / 16Ryan also cautioned schools to be careful about re-opening until community transmission of Covid-19 is under control. 8 / 16Debate in the United States over restarting education has intensified, even as the pandemic flares up in dozens of states.9 / 16We have to do everything possible to bring our children back to school, and the most effective thing we can do is to stop the disease in our community,” he said. “Because if you control the disease in the community, you can open the schools.”10 / 16Vaccines have also been developed by Pfizer and Bioen Tech in Germany. The United States has paid billions of dollars to these companies to get 100 million doses by December.11 / 16These companies will supply vaccines to the United States by the end of 2021. European nations have also demanded billions of euros from some companies to be the first to get the vaccine.12 / 16Although 150 companies around the world are in the process of developing the vaccine, Russia and China have claimed that it has developed it and that its initial tests have been successful.13 / 16Serum Institute will be manufactured in India in collaboration with Oxford University and a British company. Although there are some tests left for that vaccine, based on the findings so far, it is reported that Serum has started production of the vaccine in Pune.14 / 16The vaccine will be available in large quantities by December and by March next year, Poonawala had said on Tuesday.15 / 16Apart from serum, 4 to 5 other companies in India are working on corona vaccine. Among them, trials of covaxin vaccine, developed by Bharat Biotech, have started in some of the major hospitals in the country.16 / 16About 10,000 people are expected to be tested. The central government is trying to make the vaccine available by August 15. V. K. Paul said.