The world needs a coronavirus vaccine. But it will take time | Patrick Vallance

Any vaccine has to work, but it also has to be safe. Making it happen is one of the government's biggest priorities

" Patrick Vallance is the UK government chief scientific adviser

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Covid-19 has made fundamental and long-lasting changes to the way we live our lives, not just in the UK, but across the world.

As we continue with social-distancing measures and deal with the most immediate issue of reducing the number of cases to protect the NHS and save lives, and keeping R, which is the average infection rate per person, below one, we also need to progress ways to tackle the disease in the longer term.