Jeremy Hunt is confident the UK will have a coronavirus vaccine by Christmas, with the majority of the population being inoculated by Easter.
Mr Hunt, chair of the Health Select Committee today told Sky News that the UK has four candidates for a vaccine.
He said: "Most people are confident that one of them will come through.
"There is so much effort going into this all over the world.
"If I was a betting man I'd say we'll have one by Christmas and it will have been received by the bulk of the population by Easter."
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the organisation, told a board meeting this week: "There is hope that by the end of this year we may have a vaccine. There is hope." - reports Birmingham Live.
He added: "Especially for the vaccines and other products which are in the pipeline, the most important tool is political commitment from our leaders, especially in the equitable distribution of the vaccines.
"We should recover together and support those who need support. That will help us to open the world together, or for the world to recover together."
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He added: "We need each other, we need solidarity, and we need to use all the energy we have to fight the virus."
Last month, the UK Government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said small amounts of a coronavirus vaccine could be made available to certain groups of people before the end of the year.
He added that it was "much more likely that we'll see vaccines becoming available over the first half of next year, again not certain but pointed in the right direction."
