South Africa: first clinical trial of a Covid-19 vaccine on the continent

Text by: Jeanne Richard Follow

South Africa has just started the first clinical trial of a Covid-19 vaccine on the continent. This vaccine candidate was developed by the University of Oxford and is already being tested on humans in Great Britain. South Africa is approaching 140,000 detected cases of coronavirus and 2,500 dead and remains the most affected country in Africa by the pandemic. Last April, a controversy over the possibility that the continent could be used as a guinea-pig to test vaccines had triggered a strong anger. But this time, the South African authorities specify that they are voluntary.

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The vaccine called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 is to be tested on 2,000 volunteers in South Africa. A clinical trial is already underway in Great Britain on 4,000 people. And another study is planned in Brazil on 5,000 people.

The objective: to determine whether this vaccine is effective in different areas of the globe and in various populations. Researchers also want to know if particularly vulnerable people with AIDS can also be protected. In South Africa, the trial must include 50 HIV-positive people.

As the country enters the southern winter, other seasonal respiratory illnesses like the flu are back and hospitals are concerned about running out of beds. "  Now more than ever, we need a vaccine to prevent Covid-19 infections  ," said Shabir Madhi, professor at the South African University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and responsible for the clinical trial in the country.

Last April, two French scientists had raised on television the possibility of using Africa as "  a testing ground  " for vaccines. Their words had sparked heated controversy. The Director General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, denounced " racist "  remarks  and "  the heritage of a colonial mentality  ".

Far from this controversy, the South African authorities are volunteering to participate in this study, arguing that the continent should not be excluded from global scientific research.

“  The number of people infected with the coronavirus is increasing every day , says Dr Sandile Buthelezi, Director General of Health at the Ministry of Health, the development of a vaccine is the only solution in the long term and we fully support the 'team conducting this test  '.

And Professor Madhi adds "  that it is essential that we have scientific data in the African context if we want the African populations to be able to benefit from a vaccine in the near future  ". If the test is conclusive, he hopes for an implementation on the market in the fall of 2021.

More than 200 vaccines against the coronavirus are being studied worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), a dozen clinical trials on humans are underway.

♦ ChAdOx1 nCoV-19

The technical name of the virus tested in South Africa, the United Kingdom and Brazil is ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 because it is made from the ChAdOx1 virus, a virus that causes a common cold, but genetically modified to be harmless. It has also been redesigned to present protein S (for spike). This protein S is present on the surface of the new coronavirus, it is it which gives it its characteristic appearance, bristling with peaks, which form like a crown on the surface of the virus. The researchers hope that the vaccine, by presenting protein S to our immune cells, can cause the production of specific antibodies. These antibodies could then recognize protein S from the coronavirus when it enters the body and destroy the virus.

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• South Africa
• Coronavirus

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