PRETORIA, South Africa (CU)_South Africa has suspended the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, until a committee of experts advises the authorities on the best way to proceed, the country’s Health Minister announced on Sunday (Feb 7).
The decision was made following trial data which showed that the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford only offered limited protection against mild and moderate cases of the 501Y.V2 Coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa.
“When new information is brought to light and viruses change and mutate, decisions need to be made. This is possibly why the AstraZeneca vaccine rollout is on hold for now,” the country’s Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said.
Last Monday (Feb 1), the South African government received 1 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca shot produced by the Serum Institute of India, and was due to soon rollout the doses to healthcare workers in the country.
Instead, now, the government will offer vaccines developed by Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, in the coming weeks, while experts decide how the AstraZeneca shot can be deployed.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, which conducted the trial of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, said the vaccine provides “minimal protection” against mid-moderate infections of the variant dominant in South Africa.
However, AstraZeneca says, while the data appears to confirm the theoretical observation that mutations in the virus seen in South Africa will allow ongoing transmission of the virus in vaccinated populations, however, none of the 2,000 participants near the age of 31 developed serious symptoms, which may suggest that the vaccine may still have an effect on severe disease.
“Protection against moderate-severe disease, hospitalisation or death could not be assessed in this study as the target population were at low risk,” the pharmaceutical company said in paper due to be published on Monday.
An AstraZeneca spokesman also said the manufacturer has begun adapting its vaccine against the South African variant, and is advancing rapidly through clinical development so that it may be ready for autumn delivery.
