The director in charge of COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials at Oxford University said that there are "slim chances" that the vaccine will be ready before the Christmas period Wednesday.

The chief supervisor of the trial, Andrew Pollard, said that the Science and Technology Committee is optimistic that the Oxford University trials will be able to display advanced results, and may reveal whether the vaccine is effective before the end of 2020.

When asked whether the vaccine will be ready before december, he replied that these chances are "slim", then he added, "but I do not know."

He pointed out that the clinical trials conducted by Oxford University are only one of many trials around the world for a vaccine against COVID-19, and one of them will hopefully announce success before the end of 2020.

There is no clear timeline regarding when the vaccine will be available to the public.

This scientific assessment comes following British PM Boris Johnson’s announcement that the coronavirus vaccine may be ready in the first part of next year.

No COVID-19 vaccine has obtained the approval of the health authorities in Britain so far.

The developers of any vaccine need to adhere to strict conditions regarding efficacy and safety.

The first COVID-19 vaccine which began to be developed was by German company BioNTech SE and its US counterpart Pfizer, followed by the second vaccine trials between Oxford University and the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company.

Meanwhile, the UK vaccine taskforce chair, Kate Bingham, said she was more than 50 percent confident that the vaccine would be developed by summer 2021.

She stated that the available data gives positive impressions and she strongly suggested that there will be a vaccine that reduces infection and deaths due to COVID-19.

However, British health officials have warned that the probability of eliminating the virus remains "weak".