AstraZeneca’s ineffectiveness in SA ‘concerning’ – WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reacted to the South African government’s decision to halt the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine – after a study found it was ineffective against a new variant of COVID-19.

Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has said that while the AstraZeneca doses will not be administered anytime soon, they would still be forging ahead with the vaccine rollouts for Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.

The WHO’s Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said they were concerned, but added that it was necessary to eventually conclude whether the drug will help prevent other diseases.

“This is clearly concerning news however there are some important caveats. Given the limited sample size of the trial and the younger healthier profile of the participants, it is important to determine whether or not the vaccine remains effective in preventing more severe illness,” Ghebreyesus said.

WHO: Countries succeeding in limiting spread of COVID-19 variant

He further added that the manufacturers of the COVID-19 vaccines needed to be cognisant of the fact that the respiratory disease advances – which means the drugs must be able to effectively counter the different variants.

“Several countries are succeeding in suppressing transmission including those where new variants are circulating. It also seems increasingly clear that manufacturers will have to adjust to the evolution of the virus taking into account the latest variant for future shots including boosters.”

At the same virtual briefing was the co-chairperson of government’s Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19, Professor Salim Abdool-Karim, who spoke extensively on the country’s vaccine blunder. Karim said several proposals are being considered, as to what happens with the AstraZeneca doses already purchased and in storage.

“We are just not confident about its efficacy against the 501yv2 variant and so we are proposing an alternative approach to roll out the vaccine and one proposal that is currently being considered is to roll it out initially just in a set manner where the first step includes about 100 000 individuals that are vaccinated in which we monitor the hospitalisation rates,” he said.

“All that has been suggested at this point is to delay the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine until we have the processes in place to undertake this kind of kind if step-wise implementation approach”

The dominant variant, first discovered in the Eastern Cape in November 2020, was found to be 50% more infectious than the original virus. It has since been detected in at least 30 other countries.