[ad_1]
A MAC member has commented on the Pfizer vaccine.
Michael Ciaglo, Getty Images via AFP
- MAC professor Barry Schoub has commented on the latest findings on the Pfizer vaccine.
- He has said that it is still a good vaccine despite new research.
- MAC has been holding regular meetings about the virus.
One of the South African government’s top advisers on Covid-19 vaccines said Friday that the Pfizer injection “is still a very good vaccine,” despite a study showing that the dominant local virus variant may lower its protective antibodies. .
Barry Schoub, chairman of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Vaccines, told Reuters that the two-thirds reduction in protective antibodies mentioned in the study “means that there is a fairly significant remaining neutralizing potency.”
The advisory committee held its regular weekly meeting on Thursday and discussed the laboratory study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week.
READ | South Africa becomes first country to use J&J vaccine
While it has not been established in a clinical trial that the Pfizer vaccine protects against the most contagious 501Y.V2 variant first identified late last year, “we can have a reasonable extrapolation because it is such a potent stimulator of the immune system and the fact that in the laboratory it was only reduced by two-thirds, “said Schoub.
Vaccine
Authorities would closely monitor those who receive the Pfizer vaccine, he added.
South Africa is counting on the Pfizer injection, developed with German partner BioNTech, to intensify its vaccination program after administering its first doses of Johnson & Johnson on Wednesday.
READ | Covid-19: Ramaphosa, Mkhize Receive Vaccine Injections
AstraZeneca vaccines are on hold after a small local trial found that the vaccine offered minimal protection against mild to moderate disease of the 501Y.V2 variant.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Wednesday that South Africa initially expected 500,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and about 7 million doses by June.
South Africa, with nearly 1.5 million cases and more than 48,000 deaths, has recorded nearly half of the Covid-19 deaths and more than a third of the confirmed infections in Africa. It lagged behind the wealthiest Western nations in launching its immunization campaign.
