Johannesburg, South Africa – The recent coronavirus variant identified in South Africa poses even more of a risk than the strain discovered several weeks ago in England, Warned the top British health official on Monday. His alarm came when scientists warned that the new strain crossing South African coastal communities could be resistant to COVID-19 vaccines approved or pending approval in the US and Europe.
“I’m incredibly concerned about the South African variant,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock told BBC radio. “This is a very, very important problem … it’s even more of a problem than the new UK variant.”
How were the first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca University vaccine out of medical trials administered at an Oxford hospital on Monday, Professor John Bell, a senior Oxford immunologist who helped create the prestigious university vaccine, said there was a “big question” as to whether current versions of vaccines would work with the South African variant.
He said the mutation was “unlikely” to make the vaccines ineffective, but that they might need adjustments to provide as much protection against the strain as they do against others that already have widespread circulation elsewhere.
The lead investigator of the Oxford vaccine trial conducted in South Africa, Professor Shabir Madhi, told CBS News on Monday that more than 13 coronavirus variants had been identified in the country since the start of the pandemic. He said the new one, 501.V2, which has spread like wildfire in South Africa’s coastal cities, is the most troubling mutation to date of the virus.
“It is not taken for granted that the vaccine does not work in this variant, but it is considered that the vaccine may not have full efficacy,” he said.
Time trials
Both Oxford and US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson have conducted human trials of their vaccines in South Africa, including the doses given since the new variant was discovered.
“Those who were in our trial received the second dose during the time of this new variant, which is extremely fortunate,” Madhi said, adding that he was expecting the relevant results of the trial for the fourth week. January.
Glenda Gray, president of the South African Medical Research Council and leader of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine testing team, confirmed that her trial also included giving doses to participants in the new strain outbreak.
“It’s lucky that this schedule will allow us to see if there is any change with this new variant” in the effectiveness of the vaccine, he said. His team also expects results “by the end of this month.”
“This new variant should not delay access to the vaccine, but it also means we need to watch for advanced infections,” he said, referring to the rate of infections among those who have received the vaccine.
The Johnson and Johnson vaccine requires only one dose, unlike the Oxford and Pfizer vaccines approved for use in Britain, or the Modern formula used in the United States along with Pfizer injections.
The Oxford vaccine was tested in seven different locations in South Africa in 2,100 volunteers, while some 45,000 people participated in the Johnson and Johnson trial.
So far, immunologists have expressed little concern about the effectiveness of approved or pending vaccines against other coronavirus mutations, including a variant discovered late last year in the London region that has sharply increased infection rates. in the United Kingdom.
Government scientists say that, like the South African variant, the new British strain seems to pass more easily among people, but they expect it to respond to vaccines in the same way as the more widespread versions of the disease.
The South Africans waited
Meanwhile, South Africans are still waiting to find out when vaccines are actually available in their country outside of trials.
The country’s largest union has accused the government of “serious incompetence” with its vaccine deployment plan. A group of eminent scientists, including Glenda Gray, criticized the government in a publication published on Sunday for what it said was a “surprising” lack of planning.
Within hours of the criticism, the Minister of Health, Dr. Zweli Mkhize, made an online presentation detailing the government’s plan. He said the goal was to vaccinate two-thirds of South Africa’s 57 million people by the end of the year, as of February.
“We are targeting a minimum of 67% of the population to achieve herd immunity,” he said.
The South African Ministry of Health has reported a total of 1.1 million accumulated cases of COVID-19 nationwide, with a positivity rate of 32% and nearly 30,000 confirmed deaths. It is the worst national coronavirus epidemic in Africa.