JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The African Union (AU) will not “move away” from AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, but will target its use in countries that have not reported cases of the dominant variant in South Africa, head of body disease control. said on Thursday.
The comments came after South Africa paused the vaccine launch because of preliminary test data showing that it offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illnesses caused by the country’s 501Y.V2 variant.
South Africa said on Wednesday that it could try to sell or exchange its AstraZeneca vaccines and will use an alternative from Johnson & Johnson to start protecting healthcare professionals later this month.
African countries are expected to receive 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine this year under an AU vaccine plan.
John Nkengasong, director of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said at a virtual news conference that more work was needed to understand how the AstraZeneca vaccine worked against the rapidly spreading 501Y.V2 variant identified for the first time this year past.
“For now, our strategy is not to throw away our 100 million doses, but to target countries that, as we indicated, have not reported cases of this specific variant,” said Nkengasong, adding that only six countries besides South Africa reported that the variant was circulating.
“You still have a large number of countries that can benefit from these vaccines, so we are not going to abandon AstraZeneca vaccines.”
Kenya said on Thursday it would move ahead with plans to use the AstraZeneca injection.
Matshidiso Moeti, director of the World Health Organization for Africa, said that WHO was informing African countries about a recommendation by its SAGE panel of experts to use the AstraZeneca vaccine, even in countries where the 501Y.V2 variant may reduce its effectiveness. .
She said interactions with neighboring South African countries were “particularly intense” after eSwatini said on Tuesday that it would not use AstraZeneca’s injections.
“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 said at another news conference.
ALARM VARIANT
The 501Y.V2 variant partially concerns health specialists because of its ability to prevent the immune response generated by previous 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 concerns that it has spread to other places like eSwatini and Tanzania.
The African CDC recommended that countries that did not detect the variant continue with the implementation of AstraZeneca.
For those where it is present, “we recommend accelerating your preparation to introduce all vaccines that have received emergency use authorization or approval by regulatory authorities,” said Nkengasong, adding that “the effectiveness of the (AstraZeneca) vaccine against 501Y.V2 variant. ”
Nkengasong said Africa’s CDC would be conducting its own evaluations of the AstraZeneca vaccine in several countries.
He added that talks are underway with Johnson & Johnson to access more doses than the 120 million that are contained in the AU vaccine plan.
Nkengasong said the launch of 7 million doses of AstraZeneca financed by the telecommunications company MTN will continue. “This plan is still going to advance, this is a good vaccine without the variant,” he said.
AstraZeneca says it has started adapting its vaccine against the 501Y.V2 variant.
On Wednesday, South Africa said it would like to see if it could exchange the doses of AstraZeneca it ordered from the Serum Institute of India for injections of a different vaccine available through the COVAX vaccine distribution scheme.
Asked about the idea, AstraZeneca’s chief executive said on Thursday that the drugmaker would support anything that was agreed between the Serum Institute and the South African government.
Additional reporting by Emma Rumney in Johannesburg, Duncan Miriri in Nairobi and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Alison Williams and Nick Macfie