(Fighting New Coronary Pneumonia) The South African government postpones the first batch of new coronary pneumonia vaccination plans
China News Agency, Johannesburg, February 8 (Reporter Wang Xi) According to South African media reports on the 8th, the South African Ministry of Health has postponed the first batch of new crown pneumonia vaccines that will be launched this month on the evening of the 7th.
On February 1, South Africa's first batch of 1 million new crown pneumonia vaccines arrived in Johannesburg from Mumbai, India. The first batch of vaccines was the Oxford AstraZeneca new crown pneumonia vaccine produced in India.
The vaccine was then sent to the test base in Bloemfontein for testing, and it is expected to start vaccination for 1.25 million medical workers in South Africa in the middle of this month after passing the test.
However, the test results recently released by a medical research team composed of many universities in South Africa showed that this batch of new crown pneumonia vaccines has a clear defensive effect against the new crown pneumonia virus that was circulating last year, but it has no effect on the current variant new crown pneumonia virus in South Africa It is not obvious, and the clinical effect is not satisfactory. This means that even if the South African government subsequently promotes this batch of AstraZeneca vaccination work on a large scale, it still cannot achieve the purpose of herd immunity.
The South African mutated virus of new crown pneumonia was discovered in November 2020. Compared with the previous new type of coronavirus, the mutated virus spreads faster and is more susceptible to infection.
South African Health Minister Mukez confirmed the news that the vaccine test was not effective.
He said that the South African government is currently negotiating with medical experts on how to re-allocate and use this batch of new coronary pneumonia vaccines and introduce vaccines from other countries or brands in the world.
Previously, the South African government confirmed that, in addition to the first batch of vaccines produced in India, it is currently stepping up to sign procurement agreements with major vaccine manufacturers in the world, with a view to obtaining sufficient vaccines as soon as possible to achieve the goal of vaccinating more than 40 million people by the end of this year.
As of press time, the total number of confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia in South Africa has reached 1,476,135, with 46,290 deaths. It is currently the country with the most severe epidemic of new coronary pneumonia on the African continent.
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