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By Rudolf Nkgadima, IOL Reporter 
1 hour ago
Cape Town: AstraZeneca vaccine provides minimal protection against mild to moderate Covid-19 symptoms of the variant first discovered in South Africa, Professor Shabir Madhi, dean of health sciences at the University of Wits, confirmed Sunday .
Madhi, Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize and the Health Committee addressed the media on the latest research on Covid-19 vaccines and South Africa’s implementation strategy.
While the AstraZeneca vaccine was highly effective against the parent coronavirus, it offers limited protection against the 501Y.V2 variant, Madhi said.
In this study of approximately 2,000 volunteers, protection against moderate-severe disease, hospitalization, or death could not be assessed in this study, as the target population was at low risk.
Madhi said the findings are now forcing the Health Committee to “recalibrate thinking about how to tackle the pandemic virus.”
An AstraZeneca spokesperson told Reuters on Sunday: “The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca have begun tailoring the vaccine against this variant and will move rapidly through clinical development to make it ready for fall delivery should it be necessary.” .
South Africa received one million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India this week, and another batch of 500,000 doses will be delivered later this month.
Mkhize told members of the health portfolio committee on Friday that the country will also receive 9 million doses from Johnson & Johnson, 20 million from Pfizer and 12 million from Covax facilities.
Professor Glenda Gray said the early results from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were more promising and could be a “miracle solution”
The single-dose vaccine was shown to be 85 percent effective in preventing serious illness and death in the 501Y.V2 variant.
“We are in advanced talks to further evaluate the single injection Covid vaccine in South Africa on an expedited basis,” said Gray.
Mkhize said healthcare workers will be vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer vaccines.
The panel confirmed that the AstraZeneca vaccine had an expiration date in April and that discussions were underway with the Serum Institute of India to possibly exchange the shares.
On Saturday, Mkhize announced that 3,184 more people had tested positive for Covid-19 in South Africa, bringing the cumulative number of cases identified in the country to 1,473,700.
A total of 278 Covid-19-related deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours, Mkhize said on Saturday.
MESS
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