Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says South Africa will launch a Johnson & Johnson fire inoculation campaign.
South Africa is considering marketing its doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and is starting its Johnson & Johnson fire inoculation campaign instead, the health minister said.
The country, the worst affected by the pandemic in Africa, has suspended the launch of the vaccine that was to start with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine this week after a study found that the cage failed to prevent mild and moderate diseases caused by a discovered variant in South Africa called 501Y.V2.
The delay in vaccination has withdrawn an ambitious plan to inoculate about 40 million people – 67% of the population – by the end of 2021.
Given the results of efficacy studies [the government] will continue with the planned vaccination in the first phase using Johnson & Johnson vaccines instead of the AstraZeneca vaccine “, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
“The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has proven effective against the 501Y.V2 variant.”
He did not say when the immunization would begin.
Officials also decide the fate of more than one million Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines already insured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and are due to expire at the end of April, although this date could be adjusted.
Mkhize has shown several options, including selling or changing doses with countries addressing the initial coronavirus strain.
“According to their advice, the vaccine will be changed before the expiration date,” he said, adding that “there are already countries asking to sell them.”
“Our scientists will continue with other deliberations on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in South Africa,” Mkhize explained.
Local vaccine production
South Africa was delayed in the global vaccine fight and received its first blows, a million photos with AstraZeneca, only on February 1.
Another 500,000 doses have been purchased from SII and will be delivered this month
Mkhize said the government’s ministerial advisory committee should be able to give a thoughtful perspective on how to treat AstraZeneca vaccines in the next week or two, adding that the government has also provided doses of vaccine from Pfizer for health workers.
Negotiations with Moderna, Sinopharm in China and the Russian Sputnik V vaccine continue.
Officials said the country had provided nine million single-dose J&J shots, and Mkhize said an agreement could be finalized soon.
The J&J vaccine was 89% effective in preventing severe disease and 57% effective against moderate to severe disease in the South African foot of a global study.
Ninety-five percent of the infections observed in the local study were due to the 501Y.V2 variant first identified at the end of last year.
The 501Y.V2 variant alarmed health experts who expressed concern about its ability to evade the potential immune response generated by previous exposure to coronaviruses or vaccines.
South African neighbor eSwatini, formerly known as Swaziland, also said on Tuesday that he will not use the AstraZeneca vaccine.