Before a vaccine, we'll need treatments. Is interferon beta-1a a game changer? | Charlotte Summers

It's too early to say if the promising therapy can deliver. But it's a vindication of the UK's brilliant clinical trial infrastructure

• Charlotte Summers is a lecturer in intensive care medicine at the University of Cambridge
• Coronavirus - latest updates

According to the current UK government data, there have been nearly 300,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, and more than 45,000 people have died.

The scale of this tragedy is therefore huge. And while a vaccine like the one being trialled by Oxford University will (hopefully) prevent or lessen the impact of the virus, it will not take away the need for therapies to treat people who become unwell as a consequence of becoming infected. Even once we have a vaccine that is effective, it will take many months and even years before we have scaled up manufacture and developed the logistics to deliver it worldwide. And treating only a subsection of the world's population is neither ethical, nor good science.