Launch of the vaccine in opposition to AstraZeneca Covid-19 in South Africa stopped after the examine

By Vaughn Hillyard On Feb 7, 2021

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa announced on Sunday that AstraZeneca PLC’s proposed rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine would be halted after a small clinical study found that it did not appear to protect recipients from mild and moderate diseases from a rapidly spreading one new strain of coronavirus protecting discovered in country.

The study, which involved around 2,000 volunteers, with an average age of 31, was too small and the participants too young to draw full conclusions about the vaccine’s overall effectiveness in protecting against the disease caused by the coronavirus, especially when it comes to Hospital stays or deaths goes. However, the results add to concerns that a mutating virus is making existing Covid-19 vaccines less effective and that recordings need to be updated to protect against new strains of the virus.

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Of the 39 volunteers in the AstraZeneca study found to be infected with the new South African variant, 19 had received the vaccine while 20 had received a placebo, said Shabir Madhi, investigator and dean of the medical school Study University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Those numbers would mean an effectiveness rate of around 10% in protecting against mild and moderate Covid-19 from the new variant, said Dr. Madhi, although he added that the data was too limited to be statistically significant.

After the results were announced, South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said the country would temporarily suspend its proposed launch of the vaccine pending further information on the vaccine’s effectiveness. The country had planned to deliver an initial shipment of one million doses of the vaccine to healthcare workers later this month.

Johnson & Johnson and Novavax Inc.,

whose vaccines do not need to be approved in any country have also found that their vaccinations in recent human clinical trials in South Africa have been less effective compared to studies in the US or UK. However, their vaccines have still been found to be 50% or more effective in preventing mild or moderate cases of Covid-19, and even more effective in shielding recipients from serious illness and hospitalization from the new strain.

The Johnson & Johnson process in South Africa included approximately 6,500 people while the Novavax process included 4,400 people.

Far and wide

Thirty-two counties have reported cases of the coronavirus variant, which first appeared in South Africa.

Countries in which variant B1.351 was recognized

United Kingdom

First case

reported

12th of December

First case

reported Jan. 27

South Africa

First case reported on October 8th

United Kingdom

First case

reported

12th of December

First case

reported Jan. 27

South Africa

First case reported on October 8th

United Kingdom

First case

reported

12th of December

First case

reported Jan. 27

South Africa

First case reported on October 8th

First case

reported

January 27th

South Africa

First case reported on October 8th

Witwatersrand University said in a statement that it could not judge whether the vaccine would prevent more severe cases of Covid-19 because the relatively young study participants had a small risk of getting seriously ill.

Still, scientists from Dr. Madhi and Oxford University, who developed the vaccine with AstraZeneca, said that based on the results of other vaccine trials, they were optimistic that their shot would offer protection from severe Covid-19. AstraZeneca and its partners are committed to producing around three billion doses this year, enough to immunize 1.5 billion people and far more than any other manufacturer. More than a billion doses are said to go to low and middle income countries.

“This study confirms that the pandemic coronavirus is expected to find ways to spread further in vaccinated populations,” said Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group at Oxford University, in the press release on the trial results. “Given the encouraging results of other studies in South Africa using a similar viral vector, vaccines can continue to reduce the burden on health systems by preventing serious diseases.”

An AstraZeneca spokesperson said the company believes “our vaccine could protect against serious diseases.” Like other vaccine manufacturers, AstraZeneca is working to update its recordings to target new variants of the virus. She hopes to have a new vaccine ready by fall.

The South African tribe, known as B.1.351, is already responsible for the majority of infections in South Africa and has been blamed for a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in countries like Mozambique and Zambia in recent weeks.

Take over

The new coronavirus variant quickly displaced other strains in South Africa

Proportion of coronavirus strains found in South Africa

Researchers in the United States, Canada, Israel, and a number of European and African countries have also found it in positive coronavirus test samples from people with no recent travel history, suggesting it is spreading throughout the community. In total, it has been identified in 32 countries, and virologists say it is likely to be present in other countries that do not systematically sequence positive test samples.

Scientists in South Africa and the UK believe the B.1.351 strain is about 50% more contagious than previous versions of the virus, based on the much faster rise in Covid-19 infections during the second wave in South Africa compared to the first and biological ones Studies of changes to the structure of the virus.

South African researchers have said that variant B.1.351 does not appear to result in more deaths or more severe cases of Covid-19.

Ravi Gupta, a professor of clinical microbiology at Cambridge University who was not involved in the South African AstraZeneca vaccine study, said Sunday’s results underscored the need to update the current crop of Covid-19 vaccines against the new variants. Nevertheless, he reckons that the AstraZeneca shots will still offer some protection against the new variety. “We definitely still have to use the vaccines to protect people from serious diseases,” he said.

Concerns about the South African variant and its impact on vaccine effectiveness have centered on a mutation called E484K. Researchers believe this mutation makes it difficult for antibodies to control the virus and neutralize it.

The same mutation was also found in a separate variant that was discovered in Brazil. Researchers in the UK said earlier this month that they found the E484K mutation in a small number of patients infected with another fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus that is causing infections there.

As new coronavirus variants spread around the world, scientists are trying to understand how dangerous they could be. WSJ explains. Illustration: Alex Kuzoian / WSJ

– Jenny Strasburg contributed to this article.

Corrections & reinforcements
The volunteers in a South African study with AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine had an average age of 31 years. A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that they had an average age of 32 years.

Write to Gabriele Steinhauser at [email protected]