South Africa puts brakes on AstraZeneca vaccine, replaces with Johnson & Johnson jab

Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has been found to be less effective in protecting against mild to moderate COVID-19 infection from the South African coronavirus strain.

South Africa will be using Johnson and Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine instead of Oxford-AstraZeneca shots after the later was found less effective against a new variant.

The country's Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Wednesday they will continue with the planned phase 1 vaccination using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, citing Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine's lack of effectiveness against the 501Y.V2 strand of Covid-19 as the reason.

South Africa received 1 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses on February 1. As the vaccines will expire in April, there were concerns that the money spent on procuring these vaccines will be wasted, given the poor efficacy outcomes against new variants.

During a public briefing on Wednesday, Mkhize dismissed such fears and said the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines could be swapped for new ones before their expiry date.

According to Mkhize, the South African government is in talks with a number of vaccine manufacturers in different countries. The country is evaluating and engaging the manufacturers of the Sputnik -V candidate as well as considering an offer made by China's Sinopharm, he added.

AstraZeneca vaccine less effective against S. African strain

A study by researchers from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, revealed that Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine can provide "minimal protection against mild-moderate COVID-19 infection" from the South African coronavirus strain.

However, none of the study participants developed serious symptoms, suggesting that it will still have an effect on severe disease.

But it also appears to confirm the theory that mutations in the virus seen in South Africa will allow transmission of the virus in vaccinated populations, the researchers pointed out.

Andrew Pollard, Chief Investigator of the Oxford Vaccine Trial, recently informed that they might be updating their Covid-19 vaccine to make it more effective against the new mutants and that it may be released by autumn.

Designing a new vaccine can be done very, very quickly, as it essentially just requires switching out the genetic sequence for the spike protein, said Pollard at a recent media briefing hosted by AstraZeneca.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has been found effective at fighting the UK coronavirus variant.

Notably, the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in manufactured by the Serum Institute in India, where it is called Covishied. It is one of the two vaccines approved for the ongoing vaccination drive, the other being Covaxin, which is produced by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech.

So far, the South Africa variant of coronavirus has not been found in India, but the government is keeping a watch on it, said NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul on Tuesday.

With inputs from IANS