Vaccine for new coronavirus 'COVID-19' could be ready in 18 months - WHO

Director-General of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaks during the news conference on the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Geneva, Switzerland February 11, 2020. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

GENEVA (Reuters) - The first vaccine targeting China's coronavirus could be available in 18 months, "so we have to do everything today using available weapons", World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva on Tuesday.

He said the virus had been named COVID-19, explaining that it was important to avoid stigma and that other names could be inaccurate.