French President Emmanuel Macron dashes hopes for Coronavirus vaccine by ‘March or April’ 2021

NEW DELHI: Despite a global race to find a cure for the deadly coronavirus pandemic that has affected millions across the globe, French President Emmanuel Macron has dashed hopes for finding a COVID-19 vaccine by ‘March or April’ 2021.

Macron, while speaking at the annual BPI France Inno Génération Forum, said that in his belief the Coronavirus will be around for a long time to come. 

In his recent speech that notably focused on the economy and his desire to see French business push forward in spite of the health crisis, Macron said, "The people who tell you 'we'll have a vaccine by next March or April' are sincerely mistaken." 

In past too, the French leader had said that the earliest a vaccine against the coronavirus can be expected is at the end of 2021. "No one is telling me we'll be able to get a vaccine before winter '21," Macron had said while visiting the Pasteur Institute in Paris, where researchers developed a test for the coronavirus and were working on developing treatment and a vaccine.

President Macron was also philosophical in his recent appeal for global efforts to reverse biodiversity loss, saying it is the life insurance of humans.

The "protection of nature" raises the fundamental ethical issue of the "protection of human beings". Above all, the "protection of biodiversity" is the `protection of ecosystems", he spoke at the UN Biodiversity Summit on Wednesday.

"I do not believe that the right of any other living creature is higher than a human right. But I do not believe in the effectiveness of preserving human rights without preserving the ecosystems. For me, this is the philosophical and ethical basis of this battle for biodiversity," Macron said.

“Scientists have long been alerting about the risks of new infectious diseases due to deforestation and the poaching of wild species, by showing the links between human, animal and environmental health. The COVID-19 pandemic reminds that biodiversity is the life insurance of humans. When it is weakened, our health security and our economic security are at stake," said Macron.

He stressed the need to step up the fight against environmental crime, and to put a definitive end to all illegal activities that endanger nature, destroy ecosystems, feed corruption, hinder the development of rule of law and, ultimately undermine the sustainable development of humanity.