Covid-19: South Africa plans to sell or trade AstraZeneca vaccines

One dose of AstraZeneca vaccine.

AP - Valentina Petrova

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

South Africa has already suspended its vaccination campaign.

In question, an effectiveness that would be limited in the face of the South African variant of the coronavirus.

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Country officially the most affected on the continent by the coronavirus pandemic, South Africa said it was ready on Wednesday to resell or exchange its lots with countries affected by the original strain of coronavirus.

"

 The vaccines will be exchanged before the expiration date 

", said the South African Minister of Health, assuring that " 

there are already countries which ask to sell it to them

 ".

Doubts about the effectiveness of the vaccine on moderate forms of the disease

South Africa has been battling a more contagious variant of Covid-19 for weeks, and the feeling among the population is that we must not procrastinate. 

The decision to suspend the vaccination campaign

is poorly understood.

The problem for authorities is that the AstraZeneca vaccine has not been shown to be effective against mild and moderate cases, according to a trial.

Except that this trial was carried out with only 2,000 people.

Too small a sample to make a reliable conclusion, says Professor Alex Van Den Heever of the Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg: “

 The trial excluded all high-risk groups, and there were only 2,000 participants. instead of 20,000, for example.

And because they excluded all high-risk groups, all they wanted to know was whether or not the vaccine would prevent contamination, of which mild illness is an indirect indicator.

 "

A costly change of strategy

In other words, the trial did not seek to verify whether the AstraZeneca vaccine was effective against serious illnesses because these patients were not included in the study.

Professor Van Den Heever therefore believes that it is too early to throw the vaccine in the trash.

For its part, the South African government would like to bet on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is supposed to be more effective, and a single-dose vaccine.

At present, nine million doses have been ordered, including a first delivery, and in small quantities, is expected next week, underlines the Ministry of Health.

The AstraZeneca case nevertheless raises an urgent question for the health authorities, what to do if a vaccine is powerless against the new variants?

South Africa aims to immunize 67% of its population by the end of the year.

But this vaccination campaign has been delayed and is now disrupted by this new local strain.

A change in strategy, namely to buy new vaccines, could prove very costly.

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  • South Africa

  • Coronavirus

  • Vaccines

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