South Africa will accelerate the rollout of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, it has been reported.
SA has secured orders for 9 million doses of the vaccine, of which the first 80 000 are expected to arrive in the country next week. Since immunity with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is achieved with a single dose, this will be enough for 9 million people in South Africa, barring some inevitable wastage. Results from clinical trials in South Africa show that the vaccine has an effectiveness of 57%, 28 days after vaccination.
Professor Linda-Gail Bekker at the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, University of Cape Town, who was involved in a South African trial last year, explained that there is a delay between the results of a clinical trial and the licence being granted for commercial use. She has urged the need for rapid vaccine rollout, and had also tested positive for COVID herself along with her family during the festive season. As a stopgap measure, an interim vaccination plan with 80 000 doses will be put into action at 32 locations around the country.
Explaining the programme, Prof Bekker said: “Can we together bring this expedited plan forward so that we can make sure we, as quickly as possible, rollout phase one recipients – mainly healthcare workers – into a kind of emergency programme.”
Prof Bekker describes the expedited rollout as being different to a clinical trial.
She continued, “This is not clinical research in the clinical trial concept; it really is programme evaluation, and many eyes are on it at the moment to make sure that we have covered all aspects – ethical, safety and scientific. We will not move without those approvals.”
Source: Eyewitness News
