Only time will tell if the COVID-19 vaccines have some side-effects - Dr Waqainabete

Health Minister Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete says any treatment or vaccine specifically for COVID-19 is a new thing for the world and only time will tell if the medicine has some side-effects.

Dr Waqainabete says they are working with the World Health Organisation and other development partners on a COVID-19 vaccine.

He says the Ministry has a family health unit that looks at all the vaccines that can be available and they are working with COVEX and GAVI on a global alliance vaccine initiative.

He adds 390 vaccines are being supported by GAVI and they are closely monitoring the progress of these vaccines.

The Minister says the vaccine produced by BioNTech and Pfizer has to be stored in a minus 80-degrees celsius environment and this will be a challenge for the country as it is located in the tropics.

Waqainabete says there are other vaccines they are looking at which does not need a minus 80-degrees celcius storage and their team is monitoring this.

BBC News reports data from an advanced trial showed the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer protects 94% of adults over 65.

The trial involved 41,000 people worldwide.

Half were given the vaccine, and half a placebo which is is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. There are now more than 57 million COVID-19 cases in the world with more than 1.3 million deaths according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University in the US.