South Africa suspends Oxford Covid-19 vaccine roll out     

South Africa is to suspend the use of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine after data showed it gives minimal protection against mild to moderate infections caused by the country’s dominant coronavirus variant.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize’s announcement on Sunday came after trial data showed the vaccine developed by drugmaker AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford offered only limited protection against mild and moderate disease caused by the 501Y.V2 coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa.

Preliminary data from a small study suggested that the AstraZeneca vaccine offers only minimal protection against “mild-moderate disease” caused by the variant in South Africa.

South Africa received its first 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last week and was expected to begin giving jabs to health care workers in mid-February.

Preliminary data from a small study, which hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed, involved 2,000 people, most of whom were young and healthy. Citing lack of efficacy against new COVID strain, South Africa suspends Oxford vaccine drive. The volunteers’ average age was 31.

Scientists will be studying whether or not the AstraZeneca vaccine is effective in preventing severe disease and death against the variant, Mkhize said.

South Africa will urgently roll out other vaccines to inoculate as many as possible in the coming months, Mkhize said. Other South African scientists on Sunday said the clinical trials for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine show good results against the variant.