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On Sunday, the country’s health authorities announced that the plan to give health workers the AstraZeneca vaccine would be halted. South Africa has received 1 million doses of the vaccine, and they were intended for health workers.
Also in Norway, many doses of AstraZeneca are scheduled to be administered to healthcare workers. The leader Lill Sverresdatter Larsen of the Norwegian Nurses Association will have a new assessment of that decision.
However, Geir Bukholm, director of infection control at the National Institute of Public Health, has said that healthcare workers need not worry.
– Not with the information we have so far. There are several vaccines available. Everyone is effective. So it is the case that we constantly consider whether there should be any special problems related to certain vaccines. We have no such information now, he said Sunday.
Little protection
Preliminary results from the South African study suggest that the vaccine provides little protection against mild to moderate disease outbreaks after infection with the South African variant of the covid-19 virus that dominates the country.
The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, will be published Monday. AstraZeneca believes that the vaccine provides better protection against outbreaks of serious diseases.
Other vaccines provide better protection against the mutant variant, although they are also less effective. AstraZeneca has announced that it will have a modified vaccine ready for the fall.
South Africa had planned to start getting vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine shortly after receiving one million doses. Now, instead, they will use vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer-Biontech.
– Orientation to reality
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says authorities will await a response from the professional community before making a final decision on the AstraZeneca vaccine.
AstraZeneca’s head of research in South Africa, Shabir Madhi, told Reuters the study was a reality check.
– It is time we adjusted our hopes to coronary vaccines, he says.
Mkhize emphasizes that South Africa’s vaccination program continues.
– Starting next week and next month we will have the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, then comes the Pfizer vaccine, he says.
