"There is hope."

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has offered hope that a Covid-19 vaccine may be available by the end of the year. At the end of a two-day meeting, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addressed the board and said: "We will need vaccines and there is hope that by the end of this year we may have a vaccine. There is hope." He did not expand on his comments, which have sparked optimism from many on social media. As it stands, nine experimental vaccines are in the pipeline of the WHO-led COVAX global vaccine facility. WHO aims to distribute two billion doses of a vaccine by the end of 2021. In the past, WHO has said that the most likely scenario is that a vaccine will be available at some point next year, while US President Donald Trump has also said that one could be available in 2020. An Irish biotech company working on a Covid-19 vaccine has also predicted that it will be available by end of 2020. Just last week, a survey commissioned by RTÉ found that just under a third of Irish people would not take the first available vaccine for Covid-19.