It is a local study revealing an efficacy ” limit “ against the variants that the government of South Africa took the initiative on February 7 to suspend the AstraZeneca vaccination campaign, which was due to start in the coming days in the country.
Hard blow for South Africa: according to a study carried out among 2000 volunteers aged on average 31 years and carried out by the University of the Witwatersrand, in the city of Johannesburg, affirms that the British-Swedish vaccine delivers “protection limited against moderate forms of the disease due to the South African variant, in young adults ”. For now, the study has not yet been peer reviewed and no results are yet available on its effectiveness against severe forms.
“A version (of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine) with the sequence of the South African variant is in preparation”
“This is a temporary problem, we have to suspend the AstraZeneca vaccines until we have resolved these problems”South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said at an online press conference. Alarming results but which are above all disappointing for the country. To date the South African variant affects 90% of people infected in South Africa, scientists say. “South African and British researchers found that the vaccine was much more effective against the original (strain) of Covid-19 than against the variant” is it specified in a press release on the study of the University of the Witwatersrand in the city of Johannesburg. Sarah Gilbert, a researcher leading vaccine development at the University of Oxford, says it’s likely to take ” some time “ before we can determine the effectiveness of the vaccine against this mutation. “A version (of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine) with the sequence of the South African variant is in preparation”, vaccine manager Sarah Gilbert confirmed on the BBC.
The government plans to vaccinate 67% of the population by the end of the year
Today South Africa is the most affected country on the African continent. There are nearly 1.5 million cases and more than 46,000 deaths. South Africa received a first shipment of one million vaccine produced by AstraZeneca on February 1. Scientists will soon have to issue indications to the government, which in turn will have to quickly decide, because the doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in South Africa will expire beyond April. The country also plans to vaccinate at least 67% of the population by the end of the year. This represents around 40 million people. As for the AstraZeneca vaccine, it has been approved by several countries, but some prefer to recommend it only for people under 65, due to insufficient data for older people. The WHO is to meet this Monday, February 8, to establish recommendations for the use of the British-Swedish vaccine.