Professor Polly Roy (UK): Vaccine is expected in England at year's end

We have recorded interviews with Professor Polly Roy, Officer of the Order of the British Empire for Services in Viral Research, Professor and Head of Virology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The professor said that the discovery of the genome enabled each country to develop a vaccine and control the virus.
"Genome detection made it possible to develop tests to detect the development of the virus, the production of antibodies, many began to develop vaccines. Almost all countries have a diagnostic toolkit thanks to the genome and this is also a way to control the spreading of the virus," she explained.

The danger of the virus, she said, is that "asymptomatic carriers can infect other people and are extremely difficult to detect because of the long incubation period.

She added that an infected person develops immunity to the virus and "cannot immediately re-infect".

According to the professor, during the summer, high temperatures will help reduce the spread of the virus. Professor Polly Roy also emphasized: "The virus is dangerous because it is a new virus and we know very little about it, besides it is transmitted from person to person, so self-isolation remains the most effective measure to fight the pandemic".
The vaccine against the virus will be available to patients by the end of 2021, says the professor, and its testing could start by the end of this year.

"In England, the vaccine is expected to be available by the end of the year," said Professor Polly Roy.