On February 5, South Africa halted the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine after initial research data showed that the vaccine was only “minimal” effective against mild and moderate cases of infection with a new variant of the virus are common in this country.
South Africa’s Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said the government will wait for scientists’ recommendations on next steps, after receiving disappointing test results by the University of Witwatersrand: “This is a temporary problem we have with the AstraZeneca vaccine. We will study the problems encountered and take the next steps.
Earlier, the South African government planned to launch AstraZeneca’s vaccination against health workers, after receiving 1 million doses produced by the Indian Serum Institute today (February 8). However, with the latest decision, South Africa will continue to promote the vaccine program developed by Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer in the near future, while experts will consider how AstraZeneca’s vaccine is distributed.
In the face of “underwhelming” reports, Oxford University vaccine expert Sarah Gilber, who also develops Covid-19 vaccine with AstraZeneca, said they may have a new version of Covid-19 vaccine to prevent the New variant. The vaccine is currently in the research phase and may be available next fall. It is known that the first AstraZeneca vaccine shipments were sent to a number of countries such as France, Spain, Brazil, Afghanistan, …
However, a study from Israel said the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine hit its target effect of 95% a week after the second vaccination. Research data also showed that the body had 50% protection against Covid-19 for 10 days after the first injection. These results are the same as reported by the manufacturer in the phase 3 study.
Also related to vaccines, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro yesterday confirmed that Sputnik V is the safest Covid-19 vaccine in the world and in Venezuela alone, this vaccine is absolutely 100% effective.
On February 7, Hungary became the first European country to approve the Sputnik V vaccine for use in this European country, determining that the Sputnik V vaccine met the manufacturer’s specifications for quality. product quality and suitable for human use.
Before that, on February 3, Medical Journal The Lancet published an interim analysis of the phase 3 trial of the Sputnik V vaccine, showing that the vaccine was 91.6 percent effective against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. Sputnik V is present in 21 countries around the world./.