Despite South Africa pausing the AstraZeneca vaccine, health minister, Greg Hunt, said that Australian authorities saw no need to follow suit, as its results in the UK have been reported to be “outstanding”.
“There is currently no evidence to indicate a reduction in the effectiveness of either the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccines and preventing severe disease and death,” he stated.
South Africa was expected to begin giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to health care workers in mid-February, after receiving its first one million doses last week.
However, after a small study indicated that the Oxford vaccine offers minimal protection from the South African coronavirus strain, the South African health minister announced that they would pause its rollout while waiting for scientific advice on next steps.
The study involved 2,000 people, most of them young and healthy. As the target population were at low risk, its protection against moderate-severe disease, hospitalisation or death could not be assessed, according to Oxford University.
According to the latest statements by developers of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, they expect to have modified the vaccine to cope with the South African variant towards the end of the year.