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South Africa has halted plans to rollout the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for frontline health workers, after a small clinical trial indicated it isn’t effective in preventing mild to moderate illness caused by the more contagious variant of the virus dominant in the country.
The study conducted by researchers from the University of Witwatersrand and others in South Africa with the University of Oxford involved approximately 2,000 volunteers, of an average age of 31 years old.
The early data has been submitted for scientific peer-review, a statement from Oxford University said, and “appear to confirm the theoretical observation that mutations in the virus seen in South Africa will allow ongoing transmission of the virus in vaccinated populations, as has been recently reported even in those with prior infection due to earlier circulating variants.”
The efficacy of this vaccine against “moderate-severe disease, hospitalisation or death” was not assessed as “the target population were at such low risk.”
South Africa received its first 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last week and planned to begin inoculating health care workers in mid-February.
“The AstraZeneca vaccine appeared effective against the original strain, but not against the variant,” South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a press conference, according to AP. “We have decided to put a temporary hold on the rollout of the vaccine … more work needs to be done.”
The total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in South Africa on Sunday was 1,476,135. A total of 46,290 people have died of COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic.
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