The pharmaceutical AstraZeneca has announced that it is already working on a new effective vaccine against the South African variant of the coronavirus after it emerged that the one that is already being distributed throughout the world is less effective against this variant, particularly in cases of mild illness. .
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In this sense, the company has stressed that there is not enough information yet on the response of its vaccine to serious cases of Covid-19, hospitalizations and deaths caused by the South African variant.
The director of the AstraZeneca vaccine program developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford, Sarah Gilbert, has indicated that work is already underway to adapt the vaccine to the South African variant and that it will be available “most likely” in autumn, according to the Bloomberg news agency.
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“It’s easy to adapt the technology,” Gilbert explained in an interview with the BBC. “This year we want to show that the new version of the vaccine generates antibodies that recognize the new variant. It will be like working on the flu vaccine,” he said.
South Africa suspends use of AstraZeneca vaccine
South Africa will discontinue the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in its immunization program against Covid-19 after data showed it offered limited protection against mild to moderate infections caused by the most prevalent variant of the coronavirus in the country.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Sunday the government would await advice from scientists on the best way to proceed, after disappointing results from a trial by the University of the Witwatersrand.
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The government intended to distribute the AstraZeneca vaccine to healthcare workers soon, after it received 1 million doses produced by the Serum Institute of India on Monday.
Instead, it will offer the vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer in the coming weeks, while experts consider how the AstraZeneca vaccine could be distributed.
“What does that mean for our vaccination program that we said will start in February? The answer is that it will continue,” Mkhize said at an online news conference.
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“Starting next week, for the next four weeks, we hope there will be J&J vaccines, there will be Pfizer vaccines. So what will be available to healthcare workers will be those vaccines.”
“The AstraZeneca vaccine will stay with us … until scientists give us clear directions on what to do,” he added.