The World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday said that a vaccine would not by itself stop the coronavirus pandemic.
"A vaccine will complement the other tools we have, not replace them," he said. "A vaccine on its own will not end the pandemic."
The WHO chief added that supplies of the vaccine would initially be restricted, with "health workers, older people and other at-risk populations (to) be prioritised. That will hopefully reduce the number of deaths and enable the health systems to cope."
"That will still leave the virus with a lot of room to move. Surveillance will need to continue, people will still need to be tested, isolated and cared for, contacts will still need to be traced… and individuals will still need to be cared for," he warned.
The COVID-19 pandemic is still raging across the globe, even as we approach the one year mark of the first reported case. Coronavirus infections have gone past 54 million globally and claimed more than 1.3 million lives.