South Africa has said it will suspend the start of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Johannesburg, South Africa:
South Africa on Sunday said it would suspend the start of the Covid-19 vaccine with the AstraZeneca injection after a study showed the drug did not prevent mild and moderate cases of the virus strain that has emerged in the country.
The toughest country in Africa was set to begin its campaign in the coming days with a million doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford.
This ban marks an important hurdle for the country, but officials said the delivery of vaccines from other producers would be imminent and allow the campaign to move forward.
“It is a temporary issue that we need to keep on AstraZeneca until we find out those issues,” Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told reporters at a press conference.
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, which filed the lawsuit, said in a statement on Sunday that the AstraZeneca vaccine “provides the least protection against moderate-to-severe Covid-19 infection” from the South African variety. .
But in a full paper due to be published on Monday, AstraZeneca said none of the 2,000 participants developed bad symptoms.
That could mean that it will still have an impact on serious illness, although there are not yet enough data available to make a definitive diagnosis.
Finishing the global vaccination race, South Africa received its first one – million – dose delivery on Monday.
An additional 500,000 doses are expected this month.
They are all AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and about 1.2 million health workers were to be the first line for the pictures.
“In the next four weeks, we will have the J&J and Pfizer,” Mkhize said, referring to vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer / BioNTech.
Talks with other vaccine representatives are also underway, in particular Moderna and Russia’s Sputnik V injection manufacturers.
Mkhize recently announced that it has retained 20 million doses of Pfizer / BioNTech.
The 1.5 million AstraZeneca vaccines received by South Africa, which expires in April, will be held until scientists give clear indications of their use, he said.
“The second generation of the vaccine to combat all variants will take longer to implement,” said Salim Abdool Karim, an epidemiologist and co-chair of the African health ministry’s scientific committee. Right.
South Africa expects to vaccinate at least 67 percent of its population by the end of the year, or about 40 million people.
The country has recorded nearly 1.5 million infections and more than 46,000 deaths from the virus.
– ‘Protection against death’ –
AstraZeneca study data, which has not yet undergone peer review, “seems to confirm the theoretical study that mutations in the virus seen in South Africa allow the spread of the virus in South Africa. vaccine numbers, “he said.
“Protection against moderate-to-severe disease, hospitalization, or death could not be assessed in this study because the target population was at low risk.”
But vaccine developers in Britain informally said the results offered little hope that the scenes could prevent deaths from the opposite.
“We may not be reducing the total number of cases but there is still protection against deaths, hospitalizations and serious illness,” said Sarah Gilbert, who led the development of the vaccine with the Oxford Vaccine Agency.
It could also be “some time” before they test how effective it is for older people to fight the strain, she told BBC television.
AstraZeneca told AFP “we believe our vaccine protects against a serious infection.
“Neutral antibody activity is similar to other Covid-19 vaccines that have proven activity against more severe disease, especially when the dosing period is increased to 8-12 weeks,” the spokesperson said.
Researchers are currently working to update the vaccine, and “they have a version with a South African spike series in the works” that they would be “very likely” to be ready for harvest, he said. i.