Covid Vaccine Won’t End Pandemic till Late 2021, Lazard Poll Says

(Bloomberg) -- Nearly two-thirds of health-care industry leaders anticipate the coronavirus pandemic will continue into the second half of 2021 or longer as hopes for a vaccine this year dwindle.

The availability of an effective vaccine is the top concern for 71% of the respondents, according to a Lazard survey of 221 executives and investors across the health-care industry that was published Thursday. The most important factor in bringing about a post-pandemic “new normal” is an effective and widely available vaccine, according to 61% of respondents.

Almost three-quarters said a vaccine won’t be widely available before the second half of 2021.

Health-care leaders “are sober about the length of time it will likely take to develop widely available effective vaccines to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control, and they expect this will not happen until well into 2021, if not later,” David Gluckman, global head of Lazard’s Healthcare Group, said in a statement accompanying the report.

After the pandemic is curbed, 58% said they expect work to be flexible or a hybrid of home and in-office time. Public-health measures like facemasks and temperature checks will become routine, according to 32%, and 24% see an increase in nationalism and domestic protectionism, the study found.

Click here to read the Global Healthcare Leaders Study 2020

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