The world is still about a year to 18 months away from a vaccine for the coronavirus according to Canada’s health minister.
Patty Hajdu says while the process is underway, developing a COVID-19 vaccine is very challenging.
“Don’t forget this is a coronavirus, this is like a common cold virus if you think about it. These adapt very quickly, (and) it’s hard to develop a vaccine because the virus is quite adaptable and it mutates on a regular basis,” says Hajdu.
She believes the variables are so great and even the estimates she has heard are very optimistic.
The health minister cautions a vaccine will not be “a silver bullet”, but simply another tool to manage the disease.