Africa “does not run away” from AstraZeneca vaccine, says CDC

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The African Union (AU) will not ‘walk away’ from AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, but will target its use in countries that do not have cases of the variant in South Africa, the head of his disease control, has not reported. body said Thursday.

The remarks come after South Africa interrupted the introduction of the vaccine due to preliminary trial data showing that it offers minimal protection against mild to moderate diseases caused by the 501Y.V2 variant that prevails in the country.

South Africa said on Wednesday it could seek to sell or exchange its AstraZeneca shots, and would use an Johnson & Johnson alternative later this month to protect health workers.

African countries will receive 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine this year, according to an AU vaccine plan.

John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said at a virtual news conference that more work is needed to understand how the AstraZeneca vaccine works against the rapidly spreading 501Y.V2 variant that was only identified last year.

“Our strategy now is not to throw away our 100 million doses, but rather to target countries that, as we have indicated, have not reported cases of the specific variant,” Nkengasong said, adding that only six countries outside the South -Africa reported that the variant was in circulation.

“You still have an extensive number of countries that can benefit from the vaccines, so we will not walk away from AstraZeneca vaccines at all.”

Kenya said on Thursday it would proceed with plans to use the AstraZeneca shot.

Matshidiso Moeti, director of the World Health Organization in Africa, said that the WHO was informing African countries about a recommendation from its SAGE panel of experts to use the AstraZeneca vaccine, even in countries where the 501Y.V2 variant was effective. of which can be reduced.

She said the interaction with countries in South Africa was “particularly intense” after eSwatini said on Tuesday that it would not use the AstraZeneca shots.

“While a vaccine that can be used against all forms of COVID-19 disease, our greatest hope is to prevent serious cases and hospitalizations that overwhelm … health systems are of paramount importance,” Moeti said at another news conference.

ALARMING VARIANT

The 501Y.V2 variant is partly of concern to health experts due to its ability to evade the immune response caused by the previous exposure to the coronavirus or vaccines.

African countries that have confirmed cases of the variant include Botswana, Comoros, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia, although there are concerns about other places such as eSwatini and Tanzania.

The Africa CDC has recommended that countries that have not detected the variant continue with the AstraZeneca implementation.

For those present, “we recommend accelerating their readiness to introduce all vaccines that have received emergency use or regulatory approval,” Nkengasong said, adding that “the effectiveness of the (AstraZeneca) should vaccine against the 501Y.V2 variant. “

Nkengasong said the Africa CDC would conduct its own evaluation of the AstraZeneca vaccine in several countries.

He added that talks were being held with Johnson & Johnson to gain access to more doses than the 120 million contained in the AU’s vaccine plan.

Nkengasong said the rollout of 7 million AstraZeneca doses funded by telecommunications firm MTN would continue. “The plan will still continue, it’s a good vaccine without the variant,” he said.

AstraZeneca says it has started adapting the vaccine against the 501Y.V2 variant.

South Africa said on Wednesday it wanted to see if it could exchange the AstraZeneca doses it had ordered from the Serum Institute in India with photos of another vaccine available via the COVAX distribution scheme.

Asked about the idea, AstraZeneca’s CEO said on Thursday that the drugmaker would support anything agreed between the Serum Institute and the South African government.