No reason to think that the South African variant will be dominant

LONDON – Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, the UK’s Deputy Principal, appreciates the chances of a coronavirus variant from South Africa becoming widespread in the coming months.

His remarks, made at a news conference on Monday night, follow concerns that the AstraZeneca University of Oxford is showing limited efficacy against the specific strain, formally known as the mutation B.1.351.

“There is no reason to think that the South African variant will overtake or overtake our current virus in the next few months,” Van-Tam said, referring to the British mutation first found in southern England. .

He said the “immediate threat” would be from the variant found in the UK, which has shown vaccines to be more effective.

South Africa said on Sunday it would discontinue the use of the shot in its vaccination program after a study, not yet rated by a peer, found that the AstraZeneca vaccine ‘provides minimal protection’ against mild to moderate illness caused by the mutation in South Africa. Drug manufacturer AstraZeneca is now adapting its Covid-19 vaccine in light of the new variants.

Researchers from the University of Witwatersrand and others in South Africa, and the University of Oxford, noted that the study was small and involved only about 2000 volunteers with an average age of 31.

The University of Oxford said that ‘protection against moderate-to-severe diseases, hospitalization or death could not be assessed in this study as the target population is at such a low risk.’

Van-Tam added later Monday that early modeling data did not indicate a “transferability advantage” for the tribe found in South Africa. He said there were currently a small number of cases in the UK, according to reports 147 infections.

“I do not think this is something we should be concerned about at this time,” he said.

– CNBC’s Holly Ellyatt contributed to this article.