Johannesburg /
South African authorities will suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in its covid-19 immunization program after a report showed it offered limited protection against mild to moderate infections caused by the coronavirus most prevalent in the country.
The Minister of Health, Zweli MkhizeHe said the government would wait for the advice of scientists on the best way to proceed, after the disappointing results of a trial conducted by the University of the Witwatersrand.
The government intended to distribute the vaccine AstraZeneca to health workers soon, after receiving a million doses produced by the Serum Institute of India on Monday. The same pharmacist stated that she will reformulate her vaccine.
Instead, it will offer the vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer in the coming weeks, while experts consider how the AstraZeneca vaccine could be distributed.
“What does this mean for our vaccination program that we said will start in February? The answer is that it will continue,” Mkhize said at an online press conference.
“Starting next week, for the next four weeks, we expect Johnson & Johnson vaccines, Pfizer vaccines. Then what will be available to health workers will be these vaccines. The AstraZeneca vaccine will remain with us (…) until scientists give us clear indications of what we need to do, “he added.
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