South Africa Puts COVID-19 Vaccination Launch On-Hold

South Africa Puts COVID-19 Vaccination Launch On-Hold
Thursday 2 March 2020: A nurse checks the patients suspected to suffer from Covid-19 at the special tent for suspected cases of Covid-19 settled at the hospital where MSF is supporting with the management of the pandemic. MSF launches a collaboration with CHU Ambroise Paré Hospital in Mons to face the Covid-19 Pandemic in Belgium.
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South Africa on Sunday stated that it would suspend the start of its Covid-19 vaccinations after a study showed the AstraZeneca jab failed to prevent mild and moderate cases of the virus variant that has appeared in the country.

Africa’s hardest-hit nation was due to start its campaign in the coming days with a million doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford.

‘It’s a temporary issue that we have to hold on AstraZeneca until we figure out these issues,’ Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told reporters during a virtual press conference.

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The University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, which conducted the trial, said in a statement on Sunday that the AstraZeneca vaccine “provides minimal protection against mild-moderate Covid-19 infection” from the South African variant.

But in a full paper due to be published on Monday, AstraZeneca said that none of the 2,000 participants developed serious symptoms.

That could mean it will still have an effect on severe illness, although not yet enough data is available to make a definitive judgment.

Lagging behind in the global vaccination race, South Africa received its first delivery of a million doses on Monday.

An additional 500,000 doses are expected this month.

All are AstraZeneca vaccines produced by the Serum Institute of India and some 1.2 million health workers are to be first in line for the shots.

‘In the next four weeks, we will have the J&J and Pfizer,’ said Mkhize, referring to vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer/BioNTech.

Discussions with other vaccine producers are also ongoing, particularly Moderna and the makers of the Russian Sputnik V jab.

The new COVID-19 variant has been a major source of concern for different policymakers particularly health workers in different parts of the world.

 

AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK

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