Jakarta (Indonesia Window) - There is little chance that an effective COVID-19 vaccine will be found by 2021, a French expert has stated, urging everyone to take social distancing measures more seriously.

“A vaccine is several years in development,” said epidemiologist Arnaud Fontanet, a member of the team of scientists advising the government on the crisis, speaking on BFMTV television, the Saudi Gazette reported.

“Of course, there is an unprecedented effort to develop a vaccine, but I would be very surprised if we had that was effective in 2021,” he added.

We would probably have one that worked partially, yet we were very far from the end of the crisis, Fontanet said.

According to him, “we have to live with this virus”, and since another lockdown was out of the question, people had to go back to “more serious habits”.

“This summer, let’s respect physical distance, at least!” he said, stressing that large gatherings were the main threat.

Fontanet pointed out that the main risks for the appearance of new virus clusters were in confined spaces, such as on cruise ships, warships, sports halls, discos, slaughterhouses, accommodation housing migrant workers and places of worship.

Last week, the French government said it was preparing for a second wave of COVID-19, but rather than imposing another nationwide lockdown, they would use “targeted” measures such as stay-at-home orders or business closures.

Reporting by Indonesia Window