Laboratories are busy finding a vaccine against Covid-19.

But if they are close to touching the goal, many uncertainties still hover.

The start of vaccination campaigns should vary from country to country, and doubts about the effectiveness of the first doses are permitted.

EDITORIAL

In the quest for a vaccine against the coronavirus, the next few weeks could be decisive.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has started production of hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses in Belgium and Moderna announces that between 20 and 40 million doses will be ready for inoculation by the end of the year.

The two American laboratories have already carried out conclusive tests on at least 30,000 patients: at this stage, there would be no contraindication to the distribution of these products.

They are now waiting for the green light from the health authorities to put them on the market.

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The initiation of vaccination campaigns should vary by country.

China, for example, has taken the lead: even though clinical tests have not been completed, hundreds of thousands of Chinese have already been vaccinated, mostly caregivers or exposed populations.

Germany meanwhile announces the first vaccinations for the first quarter of next year.

The authorities are already seeking to locate warehouses intended to store doses that must be kept between -60 and -100 degrees.

The first vaccines will not protect 100%

The schedule is expected to be roughly the same in the United States and France, but the first vaccinations will remain targeted.

The generalization of vaccination should not occur until next summer.

The effectiveness of all these vaccines is also questionable.

It is already certain that the first available vaccines will not provide 100% protection, so we will have to wait for the following products to really hope to beat the epidemic.

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The public's support for the principle of a vaccine is also one of the unknowns.

A recent Gallup poll in the United States showed that only 50% of the American population is ready for it.

If there is hope, we must especially not relax the social distancing measures which remain to this day the best bulwark against the disease.