Coronavirus could become a ‘constant threat’ as expert warns there’s no guarantee a vaccine will work Life is on hold across much of the world awaiting news of a vaccine – but there is no guarantee one will be successfully developed

The world will have to live with the ongoing threat of coronavirus as there is no guarantee a successful vaccine will be developed soon, a leading expert has warned.

David Nabarro, a professor of global health at Imperial College London and part of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) team to tackle the virus, said the public would have to continue to adapt its lives around Covid-19 for the “foreseeable future”.

He told The Observer: “You don’t necessarily develop a vaccine that is safe and effective against every virus.

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“Some viruses are very, very difficult when it comes to vaccine development – so for the foreseeable future, we are going to have to find ways to go about our daily lives with this virus as a constant threat.”

New normal

The professor added that it may become “the new normal” for the elderly to be shielded and people showing symptoms to be placed in isolation if immediate hopes for a vaccine by the autumn are not fruitful. Dozens of global projects are underway to find a vaccine, including several involving UK experts.

Other experts are more hopeful. Oxford vaccinology professor Sarah Gilbert told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “The prospects are very good, but it is clearly not completely certain.”

She added: “What we need from government is support to help us accelerate the manufacturing.”

Wellcome Trust director Sir Jeremy Farrar, a member of the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Group, told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “I hope we would have a vaccine towards the end of this year – but that’s a vaccine in a vial, it’s a vaccine that we believe to be safe, a vaccine we think might be effective.

“I think it’s crucial to realise having a vaccine in itself, in say a million doses, which you know to be safe and you believe to be effective. That is not the end game.

“The end game is making sure that it is truly effective. It’s effective in the elderly, effective in young children, effective right across the age group in all populations.

“And then you have to manufacture that in billions of doses to administer them to the world.”

Antibody test warning

Mr Nabarro’s warning followed cautions from WHO over the development of antibody tests to detect who has had the virus, once touted as the UK government as a potential route out of the crisis. The body stressed that there is currently no evidence that people who have recovered cannot be infected again.

The government has bought 3.5 million tests to measure antibodies (Photo: Omar Marques/Getty)Epidemiologist Dr Maria van Kerkhova said: “There are a lot of countries that are suggesting using rapid diagnostic serological tests to be able to capture what they think will be a measure of immunity.

“Right now, we have no evidence that the use of a serological test can show that an individual has immunity or is protected from reinfection.”

She added: “These antibody tests will be able to measure that level of seroprevalence – that level of antibodies but that does not mean that somebody with antibodies means that they are immune.”