GENEVA (AP) – The head of the World Health Organization said on Monday that the emergence of new variants of COVID-19 has raised questions about whether or not existing vaccines will work, and said it was “worrying” that vaccines developed so far may be less effective against the variant first detected in South Africa.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing that South Africa’s decision on Sunday to suspend its vaccination campaign using the AstraZeneca vaccine it is “a reminder that we must do everything possible to reduce the circulation of the virus with proven public health measures.”
He said it is becoming increasingly clear that vaccine manufacturers should modify their existing vaccines to address the genetic evolution of the coronavirus, and said booster vaccines would probably be needed, especially because new variants of the virus now spreading worldwide become the predominant strains.
Tedros added that the WHO hoped to make a decision “in the coming days” on whether to recommend an emergency use list for the AstraZeneca vaccine. This designation would allow millions of doses to be sent to poor countries as part of a UN-backed effort to distribute COVID-19 vaccines known as COVAX worldwide.
Last week, Tedros said more than three-quarters of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in just 10 countries and that vaccination in nearly 130 countries had yet to begin. Despite the WHO’s goal of initiating vaccination against COVID-19 in poor countries at the same time as rich countries, COVAX has not administered any dose of vaccine anywhere.
Dr Soumya Swaminathan, WHO’s chief scientist, said South Africa’s decision should not conclude that the AstraZeneca vaccine does not work. He said all the evidence available so far shows that the vaccines developed so far reduce deaths, hospitalizations and serious illnesses.
Other COVID-19 vaccines developed by Novavax, Pfizer and BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson also appear to be less effective against the strain first identified in South Africa, although they can prevent serious disease.
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