JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The African Union (AU) will not “move away” from AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, but will focus on its use in countries that have not reported cases of the dominant variant in the South. Africa, the head of disease control said the body on Thursday.
Comments come after South Africa stopped launching the vaccine due to preliminary data from trials showing it offered minimal protection against mild to moderate disease caused by the dominant 501Y.V2 variant in the country.
South Africa said Wednesday it could try to sell or exchange its AstraZeneca traits and will use a Johnson & Johnson alternative to start protecting health workers later this month.
African countries are to receive 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine this year under an AU vaccination plan.
John Nkengasong, director of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said at a virtual press conference that more work needed to be done to understand how the AstraZeneca vaccine against the identified fast-spreading variant 501Y.V2 worked at the end of last year.
“For now, our strategy is not to throw away our 100 million doses, but rather to go to countries that, as we have indicated, have not reported cases of this specific variant,” Nkengasong said, and went add that only six different countries in South Africa had reported that the variant was circulating.
“You still have a large number of countries that can benefit from these vaccines, so we will not stray far from AstraZeneca vaccines at all.”
Kenya said on Thursday it would move forward with plans to use the AstraZeneca firing.
Matshidiso Moeti, director of the World Health Organization in Africa, said the WHO informed African countries about the recommendation of its SAGE expert group to use the AstraZeneca vaccine, even in countries where the variant 501Y.V2 may reduce its effectiveness.
He said interactions with South Africa’s neighboring countries were “particularly intense” after eSwatini said Tuesday it would not use AstraZeneca’s features.
“While a vaccine that prevents all forms of COVID-19 disease is our greatest hope, preventing serious cases and hospitalizations that overwhelm … health systems is crucial,” Moeti told another news conference.
ALARMING VARIANT
The 501Y.V2 variant is of concern in part to health experts for its ability to potentially evade the immune response generated by prior exposure to coronavirus or vaccines.
African countries that have confirmed cases of the variant include Botswana, Comoros, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia, although there are doubts that it has spread to other places such as eSwatini and Tanzania.
The CDC in Africa recommended that countries that had not detected the variant continue with the launch of AstraZeneca.
For those where he is present, “we recommend that their preparation be accelerated to introduce all vaccines that have received emergency authorization or approval from regulatory authorities,” Nkengasong said, adding that ” the efficacy of the (AstraZeneca) vaccine against variant 501Y.V2 “should be taken into account.
Nkengasong said the CDC in Africa will conduct its own evaluations of the AstraZeneca vaccine in several countries.
He added that talks were being held with Johnson & Johnson to access more doses of the 120 million listed in the AU vaccine plan.
Nkengasong said it would continue to launch 7 million doses of AstraZeneca funded by telecommunications company MTN. “This plan will keep moving forward, it’s a good vaccine without the variant,” he said.
AstraZeneca says it has begun adapting its 501Y.V2 variant vaccine.
On Wednesday, South Africa said it wanted to see if it could change the doses of AstraZeneca it had ordered from the Serum Institute of India with shots of a different vaccine available through the COVAX vaccine distribution system.
Asked about the idea, AstraZeneca’s chief executive said on Thursday that the pharmacist would support everything agreed between the Serum Institute and the South African government.
Additional reports by Emma Rumney in Johannesburg, Duncan Miriri in Nairobi and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Edited by Alison Williams and Nick Macfie