AstraZeneca Vaccine Halted Due to Low Efficacy Against New Strain

Monday, February 08, 2021 at 8:47 AM by Reeshni Chetty

- The rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine has been temporarily put on hold

- Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize along with Professor Salim Abdool Karm spoke at a media briefing on Sunday night

- The vaccine has a 22% efficacy against the 501Y.V2 variant of Covid-19 which is currently dominating SA

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The South African health department has temporarily stopped the rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. The vaccine rollout was stopped after a new study showed that the vaccine is not very effective against the 501Y.V2 Covid-19 variant.

Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize announced on Sunday evening that a team of experts would soon give guidance on the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. Mkhize was part of a panel of experts that hosted a media briefing which outlined new developments in SA's vaccine rollout.

Professor Salim Abdool Karim, one of South Africa’s leading Covid-19 experts, said the new research about the vaccine does not spell “doom and gloom”.

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AstraZeneca vaccine rollout, stopped, ineffective against new strain — Prof Abdool Karim said the pausing of the vaccine rollout does not bring 'doom and gloom', this comes days after Ramaphosa received the vaccine. Image: Rajesh Jantilal, Alain Jocard & Simon Dawson
Source: Getty Images

A report by EWN confirmed that local clinical trial data from the vaccine study for the Oxford/AstraZeneca revealed that it had a mere 22% efficacy against the 501Y.V2 Covid-19 variant dominating the country.

CNN reported that Dr Mkhize said that SA would move forward with the Pfizer/BioNtech and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. BBC stated the new study was not yet peer-reviewed and involved about 2 000 people who were on average around 31 years old.

At the beginning of the month, Briefly.co.za reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa received the first consignment of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. Deputy President David Mabuza accompanied Ramaphosa at OR Tambo International Airport.

The first 1 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine had arrived from India. News24, at the time, reported that the vaccine doses will be stored and tested before mass rollout through Biovac and other distributors.