WHO: 7 or 8 top candidates for developing coronavirus vaccine exist
Director General Adhanom says $8 billion pledge by countries has accelerated research process


Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom said overnight Monday there are seven or eight leading contestants for developing a COVID-19 vaccine.
Speaking to the UN Economic and Social Council in a video conference call, Adhanom said despite initial estimations that discovering a vaccine would take 12 to 18 months, an accelerated effort could yet shorten that time span significantly.
An $8 billion pledge of leaders from 40 countries, organizations and banks for research, treatment and testing -- while not being enough, according to Adhanom -- has sped up the process of finding a coronavirus vaccine.
The director general did not name the top candidates.
Meanwhile, Executive Director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program Dr. Michael Ryan sounded a warning to countries that are reopening their economies “blindly.” He said governments are not taking into account there could be an outbreak of the novel coronavirus in a second wave.
Dr. Ryan lauded the German and South Korean method of creating tools meant for tracking COVID-19 patients in order to monitor and stop the spread of the virus.