A scientist working on developing a coronavirus vaccine says that the treatment would, at the earliest, be available in early 2021.

Robin Shattock, the head of mucosal infection and immunity at Imperial College London, told The Brief’s Bianca Nobilo that his team was sharing information with teams of scientists across the world in the race to develop a workable vaccine.

“What’s important is that as a global community we maximize our effort to get a vaccine available in the shortest possible time,” Shattock said.

“The earliest a vaccine could possibly [be] available for global use would be early next year. That sounds slow – it’s still faster than it’s been done before.”

Shattock also told CNN that “basic hygiene methods [were] the most effective ways to reduce transmission” of coronavirus.

He added that wearing masks only provided limited protection from the infection.

“The evidence that masks are protective is very slim,” he said.

“We don’t have strong evidence that they do much in terms of protection…they might reduce transmission just because it prevents you touching your face more often.”

Shattock said use of masks by members of the public could cause stock shortages in hospitals."

"Mass use of masks may well be more of a problem than a solution,” he said.

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