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S Africa to relinquish AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine; move ahead with J&J’s drug

Prashasti Awasthi Mumbai | Updated on February 11, 2021 Published on February 11, 2021

To sell the 1.5 million acquired doses of the vaccine; secure the unauthorised vaccine from J&J for inoculation

South Africa has decided to scrap AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out plan and will instead, move ahead with Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine jabs, as per media reports.

This comes a week after the country put a hold on the vaccination drive using AstraZeneca’s vaccine, citing minimal protection against the mutated strain of the virus.

The country plans to sell the 1.5 million acquired doses of the vaccine and will secure the unauthorised J&J’s vaccine for inoculation.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said to the media that South Africa had relinquished plans to use the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine because it “does not prevent mild to moderate disease” caused by the variant circulating in the country.

The country took this decision after a study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed and did not incorporate findings of the severe cases, suggested that the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine provided “minimal protection” against mild disease from the variant.

“The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been proven effective against the 501Y.V2 variant and the necessary approval processes for use in South Africa are underway,” Mkhize said, as cited in the Forbes report.

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Published on February 11, 2021
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