French drug maker Sanofi on hunt for Zika vaccine

World Today

A French drug maker is joining the race to develop a Zika vaccine. But a breakthrough may still be years away.

CCTV’s Kate Parkinson reports from Paris.
Follow Kate Parkinson on Twitter @katecctvnews

The mosquito-borne virus is spreading across the Americas at an alarming pace. French drug maker Sanofi Pasteur this week launched a project to develop a vaccine.

Sanofi says it can move quickly to develop a vaccine by taking advantage of the research it did for its newly approved vaccine for dengue fever, which is spread by the same species of mosquito as Zika.

But France’s health minister warned that a breakthrough could be months, if not years, away.