LIVE | 'We need firm, strong leadership' to tackle 'ghastly' Covid-19 epidemic - Prof Glenda Gray

Vaccination hubs conduct dry runs as they wait for Johnson & Johnson vaccine to land

Vaccination dry runs are being conducted at centres across the country as healthcare workers wait for the Johnson & Johnson doses that are expected to land from Belgium on Tuesday.

Speaking on News24 Frontline, Professor Glenda Gray, Johnson & Johnson co-principal investigator and president of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), said: "Everyone is doing dry runs as we speak. The research sites are meeting with the vaccinators and doing dry ones. We are going to do a wet one tomorrow just so we can know the speed at which we can pull out vaccines. We want to hit the ground running as soon as the vaccines are here."

Nearly 80 000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are expected to land. This comes after the national health department had to, at the last minute, change their healthcare worker vaccination plans, following findings that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was not highly effective against the 501Y.V2 variant that was first discovered in South Africa.

16 sites on 17 February: 8 things you should know about SA's J&J vaccine rollout

 - Half a million Johnson & Johnson vaccines will arrive in South Africa by April. Three batches of 80 000 vaccines will arrive in South Africa every two weeks, followed by one batch of 60 000.

 - As of 13:00 on 15 February, around 28% of the 1.25 million healthcare workers who are part of the phase 1 rollout had registered on the health department’s online vaccination platform.

 - The vaccine will be administered at 16 hospitals around the country. Find your province's hospital with our interactive map.

North Korean hackers tried to steal Pfizer vaccine know-how, lawmaker says

South Korea's intelligence agency has said North Korea attempted to steal information on coronavirus vaccines and treatments by hacking Pfizer, a lawmaker briefed by the agency said on Tuesday.

Digital espionage targeting health bodies, vaccine scientists and drugmakers has surged during the Covid-19 pandemic as state-backed hacking groups scramble to secure the latest research and information about the outbreak.

Ha Tae-keung, an opposition member of the parliamentary intelligence panel, said the pharmaceutical giant was among those hacked in the bid to steal information on vaccines and treatments.

"There were attempts to steal Covid vaccine and treatment technology during cyber-attacks and Pfizer was hacked," he said.

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Covid-19 wrap | Court orders Dutch government to scrap curfew, Japan to start inoculation drive

 - A Dutch court ordered the government on Tuesday to immediately scrap the night-time curfew imposed to help limit the spread of the coronavirus.

 - Nigeria is evaluating four coronavirus vaccines for possible approval, including Russian, Indian and Chinese jabs.

 - Australia's Victoria state is well placed to begin easing out of a snap five-day coronavirus lockdown on Wednesday, Premier Daniel Andrews said.

This session of News24 Frontline concludes.

Gray: "...we have excess deaths - over 100 000 people have died since the beginning of this epidemic. Healthcare workers have been at the forefront, they've died, they've lost family members, everyone has not benefitted from this epidemic and I think we should also acknowledge that the huge devastation that has had on human health, and friends, family and parents and grandparents."

Gray concludes: "This is a ghastly epidemic and we need firm and strong leadership, and we need to be nimble and be prepared to change our plans when it's important to do that."

Professor Gray makes an important point, and says she was never a fan of Covax. South Africa signed up for 12 million doses through Covax and the latest available estimates are that Covax will provide 4 million doses in 2021.

 - Kyle Cowan

Nicolaou touches on the rampant PPE corruption that took place during the first wave in the country, and hopes for better checks and balances this time around. The limited number of vaccine suppliers could assist in curbing corruption with the procurement of vaccines, says Nicolaou.

Nicolaou agrees that as a country, we could have acted earlier on securing vaccines, but it's not going to be "very beneficial to focus on what's happened". 

Nicolaou: "The reality is that we are facing a critical 12-18 months, rollout, and it's how we act and perform now, in my opinion. And that's where I think the focus should go to."

Professor Van den Heever, in rebuttal to Professor Moshabela, says he will not let government off the hook. Government dithered, takes too long to make decisions and we are faced with the reality that we will probably have to re-vaccinate months from now.

 - Kyle Cowan

Professor Moshabela has given a clear and well-argued explanation of the uncertainties around the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, uncertainty around the data and evidence government was faced with, including pressure placed on government to get vaccines quickly. Policy, he says, is not usually something that can be adapted quickly on the fly.

 - Kyle Cowan

Gray explains why it's important for healthcare workers to be vaccinated. 

Gray: "40 000 healthcare workers got infected with Covid last year, around 7 000, just under 7 000 were hospitalised, and just under 700 died."

Gray: "Now we need every healthcare worker in this country, we only have 10 000 GPs in this country, and so we need every person not to die."

Gray: "And so we do need to make sure that we mitigate and make evidence-based decisions, and I think that the question about the shift to the J&J [vaccine] was an important decision because we had data on it and it was the only vaccine that we knew would help against hospitalisation and death."

Professor Gray, while saying that it was a brave decision not to roll out the AstraZeneca vaccine, has subtly criticised the "single health response approach", saying more cooperation was needed, and better communication.

 - Kyle Cowan

Adrian Enthoven, deputy chairperson of the Solidarity Fund, says the idea behind the fund was "to create an independent vehicle to unite South Africans in the fight against Covid-19".

Enthoven: "It's very important to understand that the fund is independent from government, it's independent from business, but obviously works very closely with both."

The aim was to assist the government with agile, quick turnaround times, says Enthoven.

Professor Van den Heever mentions that the health department is not present and says this is an indicator that the department is "not terribly keen" to communicate around vaccine issues.

News24 invited Dr Anban Pillay of the national Department of Health to attend, but received no response.

 - Kyle Cowan

Professor Alex van den Heever, guns blazing, says the vaccine rollout was the most predictable health requirement ever, and it's unacceptable that we do not yet have finalised vaccine rollout strategies in 2020.

 - Kyle Cowan

Stavros Nicolaou, representing B4SA, says spending R12 billion on vaccines is "the best return on investment" the country can get this year. He says the economy shed up to R400 billion last year. "It's a no-brainer," he says.

 - Kyle Cowan

Moshabela: "With this rollout of the vaccine, we need to achieve very high levels of coverage early on, and impact early on. So we really need to actively think about - in addition to the infrastructure that we have set up - who are the users and how are they likely to experience the rollout, and what are the barriers they will face, and how are we going to overcome it?"

Moshabela says if we can get that right, "we can end up with a differentiated approach that accommodates the diversity of the people in South Africa, including people in rural areas".

Moshabela: "When we deal with the real-world experience of the rollout, it's not just a matter of 'this is the design plan, the grand design plan that we have'..."

Professor Moshabela makes an important point about lessons that can be learned from the rollout of ARVs – it was expected that people would flock to clinics, which never happened. The same may hold true for Covid-19 vaccines.

 - Kyle Cowan

Professor Mosa Moshabela says the one thing that has been really interesting for him throughout this pandemic was how important it became to consider the world of the pandemic through the eyes of the people who experience it – the patients and the people themselves.

"A human-centered approach to the pandemic," says Moshabela.

Gray: "It's incredible that we can switch so quickly - we were going to start the AstraZeneca programme on Monday, and we are already announcing the initiation of an alternative programme to start the same week, which I think is phenomenal."

Gray says there have been a number of dry runs to establish readiness, and "we're gonna do a wet one tomorrow, to make sure that we know the speed at which we can pull out vaccines".

Glenda says the J&J vaccine is a two-dose vial and they will be doing some dry runs to see how fast they can get the vaccines out.

"We want to be ready," says Gray.

Looking back, South Africa implemented a "hard lockdown" very early after the first case of Covid-19 was found in March last year. This was part of the early proactive response, and there is evidence that it worked to some degree to stave off a massive burden on the health system.

 - Kyle Cowan

Professor Gray has lauded South African scientists for their early, proactive approach that has led to major discoveries around Covid-19 in the country – the most significant of these was the discovery of the 501Y.V2 variant in November last year.

 - Kyle Cowan

Gray starts off by detailing her journey so far, in researching the SARS-CoV-2 virus and studying its effects.

Gray: "...It was only towards the end of the year that we started to fear that the variant may impact on vaccine efficacy."

Gray: "There were a couple of trials that were happening at the time of the variant emerging, and J&J and AstraZeneca and Novavax were part of them. So that helped us very quickly understand a little bit about the role of the variant in vaccine efficacy."

Gray says this led to the recalibration of the vaccine rollout in South Africa, and the early access to the J&J vaccine for healthcare workers under the SAHPRA regulatory framework.

Pieter du Toit asks Professor Glenda Gray, who is part of the ministerial advisory committee: "When are we getting our first dose of vaccines?"

And we are live. Pieter du Toit starts off by introducing all the experts on the panel.

News24 Frontline | Covid-19 vaccines: Will it work and how will you get it? 

Join News24's Pieter du Toit and Azarrah Karrim as they host a panel of experts for a discussion on the facts surrounding the vaccine rollout in South Africa. Live from 11:00.

Documentation on Russia's Sputnik V vaccine submitted to SAHPRA

JOHANNESBURG – The health ministry said on Tuesday that the manufacturers of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine had submitted documentation to local regulator SAHPRA for registration.

The ministry added in a statement that it was "continuously engaging" with the manufacturers of the vaccine.

 - REUTERS

SA renewables firm Renergen to start production of ultra-cold Covid-19 vaccine storage

 - An SA renewables company is set to start producing a helium-powered mobile freezer in a matter of days.

 - This is as companies around the world work on cold-chain storage and delivery systems for Covid-19 vaccines.

 - Renergen says it has already started taking orders.

WHO gives AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine emergency approval, says it works against variant first found in SA

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday listed AstraZeneca and Oxford University's Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, widening access to the relatively inexpensive shot in the developing world.

A WHO statement said it had approved the vaccine as produced by AstraZeneca-SKBio (Republic of Korea) and the Serum Institute of India.

"We now have all the pieces in place for the rapid distribution of vaccines. But we still need to scale up production," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

Zimbabwe receives 200 000 doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines

A plane carrying Zimbabwe's first coronavirus vaccines, 200 000 doses donated by China, arrived in the capital Harare on Monday.

A further 600 000 doses from China are set to arrive in early March, information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said last week. It is unclear how much the cash-strapped southern African nation will pay for the second batch of the vaccines from China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm).

Zimbabwe's vice president Constantino Chiwenga, head of the delegation receiving the vaccines that included the finance minister, said frontline health workers would be the first to be vaccinated.

Covid-19: New cases climb by 1 744 in SA and new confirmed deaths by 78

 - As of Sunday, South Africa recorded a total of 1 491 807 confirmed Covid-19 cases.

 - 1 744 new cases have been recorded in the past 24 hours.

 - 78 new Covid-19-related fatalities have been recorded, taking the death toll to 47 899.

Scientists concerned that 7 newly discovered US coronavirus variants could be more contagious

 - Researchers have discovered seven variants of the coronavirus from across the US, a study found. 

 - It's not yet known if these variations are more transmissible than the original strain. 

 - "There's clearly something going on with this mutation," a virologist said.

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Scientists looked at what makes a person a Covid-19 super-spreader - what they found

 - Researchers found three factors common to Covid-19 super-spreaders.

 - Participants under the age of 26 are less likely to be super-spreaders.

 - Airway infections can promote the movement of infectious particles into the environment.

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Schools ready, health and safety of learners, staff top priority, says Motshekga

While schools are set to reopen on Monday, February 15, the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus continues to be felt in the basic education sector following the death of 1 169 educators since the onset of the virus.

This was according to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, who on Sunday afternoon gave an update on the government’s readiness for the reopening of schools.

"This year alone, as at Friday February 12, the number of deceased educators stands at 159. Non-teaching staff that passed during this time is at 69," Motshekga said.

UK reaches 15m Covid jab milestone, eyes next vaccination phase

The United Kingdom’s government says it has met a target of offering at least a first coronavirus vaccine shot to the most vulnerable people in England by mid-February, reaching some 15 million people in four priority groups.

The vaccine programme is seen as one of few successes in the government’s handling of a pandemic that has left the country of about 67 million people with a higher death toll and worse economic damage than many others.

After becoming the first in the world to approve a vaccine, the British government set an ambitious February 15 target date to reach 15 million care home residents and staff, front-line health and care workers, all those aged 70 or above and the clinically extremely vulnerable.

“Today we have reached a significant milestone,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a video message posted on social media on Sunday.“

No one is resting on their laurels … We’ve still got a long way to go and there will undoubtedly be bumps in the road, but after all we’ve achieved, I know we can go forward with great confidence.”

Johnson said all the four priority groups had been reached in England but he did not speak for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, and did not say the overall target had been met. In some areas, those in lower priority groups have received jabs.

He will set out further progress on Monday. The country will now start administering vaccines from Monday to those aged between 65 and 69 and those clinically vulnerable to Covid-19, with almost 1.2 million already invited to book their jabs, the state-run National Health Service (NHS) said. Ministers have also pledged to vaccinate all above-50s by May and all adults by September.

-Aljazeera