After study: Government will look for alternatives to AstraZeneca vaccine if not effective against variants | National

The Minister of Health, Enrique Paris, referred to the study that established that the efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine is much lower against the South African variant.

In relation to the above, Minister Paris stressed that the vaccine protects against very serious cases, “which is what interests us.” He added that the Institute of Public Health in Chile “seeks to detect any variant that appears and is strange. Before the appearance of this variant we will be attentive ”.

The Secretary of State also indicated that if the AstraZeneca and Oxford vaccines are not effective, the Government will use others that have been acquired and agreed upon.

Regarding Pfizer-BioNTech, he noted that In six weeks, the drug company would be able to vary the vaccine to combat severe mutations of the virus.

In relation to the South African variant, let us remember that this nation announced on Sunday the temporary suspension of its vaccination program, which was to start in the next few days with one million vaccines from Oxford and AstraZeneca, following a study by the University of the Witwatersrand that revealed “limited protection against moderate forms of the disease caused by the South African variant in young adults.”

“It is a temporary problem, we must suspend the Astrazeneca vaccines until we solve those problems”declared Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. South Africa is the African country most affected by the virus, with more than 1.5 million cases and more than 46,000 deaths.

Likewise, the drug company admitted that the vaccine offers only limited protection against a mild infection of the South African variant of the virus.