Eight people have responded positively to the COVID-19 vaccine trial in the United State but scientists say the final vaccine will be available in 2021.
The coronavirus has infected more than 13 million people worldwide and 1089 in Zimbabwe, killing 20 people locally.
Research for the vaccine is happening at breakneck speed and about200 groups around the world are working on vaccines with18 now being tested on people in clinical trials
The first human trial data appears positive showing the first eight patients all produced antibodies that could neutralise the virus.
A group in China showed a vaccine was safe and led to protective antibodies being made. It is being made available to the Chinese military.
According to the Centres For Disease Control (CDC), a vaccine would normally take years, if not decades, to develop but researchers hope to achieve the same amount of work in only a few months.
Most experts think a vaccine is likely to become widely available by mid-2021, about 12-18 months after the new virus, known officially as Sars-CoV-2, first emerged.
That would be a huge scientific feat and there are no guarantees it will work.
Four coronaviruses already circulate in human beings. They cause common cold symptoms and we don’t have vaccines for any of them.
