Africa is not ‘running away’ from the AstraZeneca vaccine, CDC says

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

The comments come after South Africa halted rollout of the vaccine due to preliminary research data showing that it provided minimal protection against mild to moderate disease caused by the dominant 501Y.V2 variant in the country.

South Africa said on Wednesday it could try to sell or trade its AstraZeneca shots, and will use an alternative from Johnson & Johnson to protect health workers later this month.

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

John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told a virtual press conference that more work was needed to understand how the AstraZeneca vaccine worked against the rapidly spreading 501Y.V2 variant released late last year. year was first identified.

“For now, our strategy is not to throw out our 100 million doses, but to target countries that, as we have indicated, have not reported any cases of that particular variant,” Nkengasong said, adding that only six countries other than South Africa had reported that the variant was circulating.

“You still have a lot of countries that can benefit from those vaccines, so we will not run away from AstraZeneca vaccines at all.”

Kenya said Thursday it would go ahead with plans to use the AstraZeneca shot.

Matshidiso Moeti, the director of the World Health Organization in Africa, said the WHO informed African countries of a recommendation from the SAGE panel of experts to use the AstraZeneca vaccine, even in countries where the 501Y.V2 variant may increase its effectiveness. Reduce.

She said interactions with South Africa’s neighbors were “particularly intense” after eSwatini said Tuesday it would not use the AstraZeneca recordings.

“While a vaccine that prevents all forms of COVID-19 disease is our greatest hope, preventing severe cases and hospitalizations that overwhelm health systems is crucial,” Moeti told another news conference.

ALARMING VARIANT

The 501Y.V2 variant is of concern to health professionals in part because of its ability to potentially evade the immune response generated by 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 that it has spread to other places such as eSwatini and Tanzania.

The CDC for Africa advised countries that had not detected the variant to proceed with the AstraZeneca rollout.

For those where it is present, “we recommend getting ready more quickly to introduce any vaccines that have received emergency or regulatory approval,” said Nkengasong, adding that “attention should be paid to the effectiveness of the (AstraZeneca). ) vaccine against the 501Y.V2 variant. “

Nkengasong said the CDC in Africa would be conducting its own evaluations of the AstraZeneca vaccine in multiple countries.

He added that talks were underway with Johnson & Johnson to access more doses than the 120 million listed in the AU’s vaccine plan.

Nkengasong said the rollout of 7 million AstraZeneca doses, funded by telecom company MTN, would continue. “That plan will still go ahead, this is a good vaccine without the variant,” he said.

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

On Wednesday, South Africa said it wanted to see if it could swap AstraZeneca doses it ordered from the Serum Institute of India with shots of another vaccine available through the COVAX vaccine distribution scheme.

When asked about that idea, the AstraZeneca CEO said on Thursday that the drug company would support anything agreed between the Serum Institute and the South African government.