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As the coronavirus clings and asserts itself in countries like the UK and the US, the hopes and fears of politicians, scientists, and the rest of humanity center on a relatively small number of vaccines currently in development.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 182 vaccines are in the works, but only nine are currently being evaluated in final “phase three” human trials.
Returning to something close to pre-outbreak normal now depends on a batch of these late-stage vaccines having proven effective.
In South AfricaThree of the most promising vaccines are being tested in cities across the country, with 2,000 participants testing an inoculation developed by the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford.
2,000 participants in South Africa are testing a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford
The study was recently stopped after a person in the UK fell ill, but the trial was resumed and participants at Johannesburg’s giant Baragwanath Hospital received the second part of this two-dose vaccine this week.
“Do you think this vaccine could work?” I asked Bonginkosi Ntombela, who lives in Soweto Township.
“I hope it works, we have to cure this disease,” he replied. “It takes a lot of our people, young, old, black, white.”
The man in charge of the Oxford trial, as well as a second COVID-19 A vaccine from the American firm Novamax, his name is Professor Shabir Madhi and we found him sneaking through a series of laboratories in the Baragwanath complex.
The battle against the virus will not only be fought in the laboratory
By mounting his own global marketing campaign, the University of Witsuwari professor has personally convinced vaccine developers to undertake clinical trials in South Africa and secured millions of pounds in funding to bring the company to life.
“What we need to understand is that pharmaceutical companies are in no rush to conduct studies in Africa.
“None at all. There is very little incentive for them to come here. The only reason (the Oxford test) is being done in South Africa is that I went out to convince people I had to do it now … and you can’t wait to do it after the pandemic has passed. “
Three of the most promising vaccines are being tested in South Africa
Professor Madhi invokes the memory of infections like swine flu when defending vaccine trials in Africa. Little research was done on this respiratory disease when it emerged in 2009 and by the time a usable vaccine was produced in Africa, the pandemic had effectively ended. The same mistake should not be repeated, he says.
“It would be a crime against humanity, a crime against the people of Africa if the mechanism for introducing vaccines were not implemented during the time of the pandemic and not after it has passed, especially if we can show that vaccines really work.”
However, the battle against the virus will not be fought solely in the laboratory. Social scientists at the University of Witswar and wonder if members of the public will take a COVID-19 vaccine.
In South Africa alone, there are a multitude of myths and misconceptions about the virus that are routinely spread on the streets and on social media.
Johannesburg resident gets tested for coronavirus
One of those theories was put forward in the Baragwanath Hospital clinic by a 19-year-old student named Shantel Manganye.
Explaining why his friends and neighbors would reject a COVID-19 vaccine, he said there is a common view that the virus selects its prey.
There are a multitude of myths and misconceptions about the virus in South Africa
“To be honest, we have this mentality that this disease only takes white people and stuff … they are trying to say that this disease can see, it can feel, if you have money, it attacks you. If you are poor, it cannot. “. They come because they know you have no money. “
Researcher Noni Mgwenya, from the University of Witswaterand, says these stories are created in an effort to make sense of something that is not well understood.
“They feel that it’s not real, that whoever invented (the virus) brought it here to kill South Africans … (people) think that things have been introduced to reduce the population in Africa.
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The deep levels of skepticism and mistrust pointing to the development of the COVID-19 vaccine are not unique to South Africa. They are part of a global phenomenon, driven in part by amateur theorists on social media.
Challenging it through community education campaigns can become as important as introducing the vaccines themselves.
