South Africa has halted the distribution of AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID after a study showed “disappointing” results against the new strain, called 501.V2 or B.1.351
Researchers said the new strain accounts for 90% of new COVID cases in South Africa.
The study conducted on nearly 2,000 people found that the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine offered “minimal protection” against mild and moderate COVID cases.
The country received 1 million doses of the vaccine and was expected to start vaccinating people next week.
On Sunday, Dr. Zweli Mkhize, Health Minister of South Africa, said his government would wait for further advice on how best to proceed with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in light of the findings, according to BBC.
The study, which was conducted by the researchers of the University of the Witwatersrand, has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Meanwhile, Mkhize said the government will start offering vaccines developed by Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson in the coming weeks.
Lead author of the study Prof. Shabir Madhi said, “Unfortunately, the AstraZeneca vaccine does not work against mild and moderate illness.”
Prof. Madhi noted that the study had not been able to investigate the jab’s efficacy in preventing serious infections, as participants had an average age of 31, so it did not represent the demographic most at risk of severe symptoms from the new variants of the virus.
Prof. Sarah Gilbert, Oxford’s lead vaccine developer, said vaccines should still protect against severe disease.
She said vaccine developers were likely to have a modified version of the jab against the new strain by the end of this year.
Experts have said that vaccines could be redesigned or tweaked to work better against new strains within weeks or months if necessary.
Early findings have suggested that Moderna’s COVID vaccine is still effective against the South Africa strain, while AstraZeneca’s vaccine provides good protection against the new variant first detected in the UK.
Early findings have also suggested the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine protects against the new strains of the virus. The article was originally published Monday on BBC.
