New Delhi: According to the WHO, scientists have said that the COVID-19 vaccine may become available within a year or less. The British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca is leading the path to COVID-19 vaccine candidate is the first to reach the final stages of clinical trials and expects to launch it within a year of months early. ALSO READ| Door To Door Samples, Drive Through Testing: A Look At How Delhi Is Taking On The Fight Against Covid-19

Around the world, there are currently around 200 COVID-19 vaccine candidates in various stages of development. The University of Oxford co-developed the experimental vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, and has partnered with AstraZeneca for production once the vaccine successfully completes the trial.

"Certainly, in terms of how advanced they are, the stage at which they are, they are I think probably the leading candidate," WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan told a news conference according to a Reuters report. Swaminathan said that AstraZeneca is one of the 200 candidates including Moderna which also “not far behind” in the trials.

"But I think AstraZeneca certainly has a more global scope at the moment in terms of where they are doing and planning their vaccine trials,” she said in the report.

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Meanwhile, Moderna’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine is entering Phase III of its trials in July and is optimistic of receiving FDA approval. Moderna has a deal with manufacturing company Catalent, which will provide vial filling and packaging capacity as well as additional workforce required for 24X7 manufacturing operations. Catalent has also signed Johnson and Johnson as well as AstraZeneca.

In a meeting on Thursday with the European Parliament's Committee for Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus underlined the importance of global cooperation to develop, manufacture and distribute vaccines.

He said, according to an IANS report, that the distribution of the vaccine will require political will and cooperation as it will be a challenge on its own, he also highlighted the importance of global solidarity and investing in healthcare.