During a briefing on Sunday, South African Health Minister Dr. Zwelle McIze said the grip would be temporary as scientists figured out how to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine most effectively. Mkhaiz said South Africa would go ahead with the configuration of the vaccines developed by Pfizer / Bioentech and Johnson & Johnson.
Preliminary data released on Sunday suggest two doses of the Oxford / AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine have provided only “minimal protection” against mild and moderate Covid-19 from the first known variant in South Africa.
The study, which has not been released, included about 2,000 volunteers who were on average 31 years old; About half got vaccinated and half got placebo, which does nothing.
Details of the study were shared in a press release by researchers from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa and others, as well as researchers from Oxford University. The results have been submitted for peer-review and a preprint will be released soon, Ox Xford said.
An AstraZeneca speaker said in a statement on Sunday that the company was “working closely with the South African Ministry of Health on how to best support the assessment of the severe disease against the B.551 variant, and to start bringing this vaccine to South Africa.” Should prove successful. “
The company believes that its vaccine will still protect against serious disease from the new B1.351 variant, especially when the dosing interval is eight to 12 weeks, the statement said.
In an earlier statement, the company said it was working with Oxford University to adapt the vaccine against the B1.351 variant so that “it should be ready for autumn delivery.”
On Sunday, Maria van Kerkov, technical lead for the World Health Organization’s Covid-19, said the WHO’s independent vaccine panel would discuss the AstraZeneca vaccine and the meaning of a new study for vaccines going forward on Monday.
“Some preliminary studies suggest less effectiveness. However, those studies have not yet been fully published,” Van Kerwow said on CNBS’s “Face the Nation.”
He added that it is important to get more than one safe and effective vaccine: “We cannot rely on a single product.”
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