Tag: COVID vaccine

“Not Being Afraid to Speak out, it does get me into Trouble Quite Often,” Says Prof Shabir Madhi

Professor Shabir Madhi of Wits University. Photo: supplied.

By Biénne Huisman

Amid the uncertainty of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Shabir Madhi often stood out for his clarity of thought in making sense of rapidly evolving scientific evidence. Biénne Huisman chatted to Madhi about vaccines, ongoing challenges with the Gauteng health department, and being outspoken about issues such as the war in Gaza.

Professor Shabir Madhi became known to many in South Africa for leading the charge in two of the first COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials conducted in Africa – those for the AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines. At a time of much scientific uncertainty, he was often quoted in the press – gaining a reputation for keeping his cool and calling things as he saw them based on available evidence.

He spoke out against the politicisation of science and was a staunch advocate for access to vaccines, especially for older people at higher risk of severe illness and death. He wasn’t afraid to ruffle feathers, openly criticising government’s COVID-19 vaccine communication efforts and arguing that government should take vaccines to the people, rather than the other way around. He called for the ending of strict lockdowns, before many others did so. Reflecting on his reputation for not holding back on his beliefs, he admits to “having a short fuse, especially when people are talking nonsense – or what I consider to be entirely off the mark”.

What may be less obvious to the public, is that Madhi’s healthcare impact precedes COVID by decades.

Internationally respected for his research into paediatric infectious diseases, his work has helped to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children and informed World Health Organization policy (WHO) – notably relating to the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (to prevent pneumonia and meningitis) and the rotavirus vaccine (to prevent diarrhoeal disease in young children).

His work continues. Just last year a landmark study, led in South Africa by Madhi’s Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), found that immunisation of pregnant women safely protected their unborn babies from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). As Spotlight reported at the time, researchers estimate the vaccine can save thousands of young lives.

Speaking to Spotlight over Zoom from Wits in Johannesburg, where he is Dean of Health Sciences, Madhi relays his love of treating kids – who “most importantly, don’t lie, and who are the most vulnerable”.

“Accidental vaccinologist”

Madhi has been described as an “accidental vaccinologist”. Shrugging inside a navy suit, he says he never intended to become a physician, let alone a professor in vaccinology. At medical school at Wits, he nearly dropped out after a month.

As a child, growing up in Lenasia, Madhi wanted to become an engineer. But born to a mathematics teacher father and a stay at home mum, money was tight. His only opportunity to attend university presented itself via a bursary in medicine.

“I only really started to enjoy medicine once I specialised in paediatrics,” he says. “But more importantly, that’s when I realised the huge potential that existed in medicine to make a difference, particularly the potential for vaccines to make a big difference over a short period of time – not on an individual level, but at a community level. And that’s what really drove me into the space of research.”

While doing his peadiatric training at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (he obtained a master’s degree in paediatrics from Wits in 1998), it struck him that the leading causes of death among children were entirely preventable.

“Back then, close to 750 000 children were dying of measles globally; half of those deaths were happening in Africa, despite the vaccine for measles being available since the 1970s. South Africa was one of the countries with a poor public immunisation programme; up until 1992 South Africa didn’t have a public immunisation programme.”

In 2009, in a first on the African continent, pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines were finally officially rolled out in South Africa.

“While I was training at Baragwanath, there was a ward just for children with gastroenteritis or diarrhoea,” he recalls. “But six months after we introduced the rotavirus vaccine in South Africa [in 2009], we shut down the diarrhoea ward at Baragwanath and probably every other diarrhoea ward in the country.”

Contributing internationally

Today Madhi’s CV is long. He sits on scores of scientific advisory committees, attending conferences and delivering talks around the world.

Since 2019, he has served on a global panel of experts convened by the WHO, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), of which he now is deputy chair. He also chairs the SAGE working group on polio.

“I’m really enjoying SAGE at the moment,” he says. “This is where I think I am making a meaningful contribution. It really is an eye opener to the different types of research that’s taking place globally; but also the type of challenges we face in terms of ensuring that children are adequately immunised.

“It’s great to be working on new vaccines, coming up with new vaccines; but that’s a meaningless exercise unless you can ensure that those vaccines are getting into the arms of children – because that is what saves lives. So yes, dealing with issues around implementation and advocacy.”

SAGE requires frequent trips to Geneva, where the WHO is based.

Our discussion turns to business travel – the amount required for a researcher to remain “relevant and competitive”. With typical candour, Madhi outlines challenges faced by researchers from the global south.

“I think coming from South Africa, coming from the African continent, it’s more of a challenge for researchers to establish themselves, for a number of reasons. Firstly to become known in the international space, you probably need to deliver so much more than what is expected from our northern hemisphere counterparts.

“Then in addition to the inconvenience of needing to travel so often, there are subtle things which people in the northern hemisphere don’t have to deal with. Needing to get visas and dealing with customs officials when entering countries.

“It can become an extremely unpleasant experience, and you really need to swallow your pride given what is blatant racism at times. For example, nowadays I refuse to fly through Germany because the customs office in Frankfurt is probably the worst I have encountered. All of a sudden, they would keep me and question me for both arrival, as well as departure…”

Local challenges

The discussion turns back to South Africa, and health challenges in his home province of Gauteng. Here also Madhi has tried to make a difference, but it hasn’t been plain sailing.

Commenting on a floundered memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed between Wits and the Gauteng Department of Health in June 2022, Madhi says: “The bottom line unfortunately; the Gauteng Department of Health simply doesn’t have stability of leadership. At the level of the MEC in particular; I mean since I’ve been dean, there’s been about four or five heads of department. And it becomes difficult to follow through with any of these programmes.”

Madhi adds that Wits university executives had worked on the memorandum for seven years. The agreement set out a plan to combine university and government resources in “academic health complexes” for enhanced service delivery. But the Department of Health put it on hold three months later, following a related Public Service Commission inquiry.

He explains: “They convened this big workshop, spending probably a mini fortune, to basically facilitate the establishment of an MOA, not just between Wits and the Department of Health, but between the Department of Health and many other academic hospitals in the province. Because of the intervention, the Department of Health indicated that they weren’t going to implement our MOA until that particular commission concluded their work. But since then, there’s been absolutely no report from that meeting.”

Not afraid to speak out

On social media, Madhi speaks out about atrocities being committed in Gaza.

To Spotlight, he says leadership holds no place for neutrality.

“As part of leadership, and I do consider myself a leader in the different roles that I play – either in my research unit or currently as university dean – you need to be prepared to take a stance. You can’t remain neutral on positions. You need to interrogate facts. And once having interrogated the facts, you need to reach a conclusion; then follow through with what is required, if there’s anything that needs to be implemented.”

Madhi says his leadership style was honed during childhood. “Not being afraid to speak out, it does get me into trouble quite often,” he says, laughing. “I think that’s just part of my upbringing, being an activist during apartheid in the Lenasia Youth League and other activist organisations. My upbringing was, when things are not what it’s meant to be, you speak out; you champion the right cause.”

These days Madhi lives in Northcliff with his wife, with whom he has two children. His favourite football team is Arsenal and a book he says he recently enjoyed was The Covenant of Water – a three generation family account set in India, by physician and author Abraham Verghese.

Republished from Spotlight under a Creative Commons licence.

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World-renowned Vaccinologist Shabir Madhi Awarded CBE

Professor Shabir Madhi has been appointed as an honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) by King Charles III.

Wits Professor of  Vaccinology Shabir Madhi led the Oxford University sponsored Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials in South Africa

Wits University and the University of Oxford contributed scientifically to informing the public health response to the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa and globally.

Madhi receives the Order in recognition of his services to science and public health in a global pandemic.

Madhi led South Africa and the continent’s first Covid-19 vaccine trials in 2020/2021 as founder and Director of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Wits Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics (Wits VIDA) Research Unit.

An internationally recognised leader in his field, the National Research Foundation A-rated scientist was involved in multiple clinical and serology epidemiology studies on Covid-19, in addition to his research on vaccines against other life-threatening diseases.

The first of (subsequently two) Wits University-led South African Covid-19 vaccine trials, Madhi led the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials in South Africa, in association with the University of Oxford.

Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, University of Oxford, and Madhi’s UK counterpart in these Covid-19 vaccine trials, says of Madhi’s CBE appointment: “I am delighted that Professor Shabir Madhi CBE has been honoured by King Charles for his remarkable contributions to global public health and particularly for his extraordinary leadership in the midst of a global pandemic. It has been a huge privilege for me to work alongside him and his team on the development of the globally impactful Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.”

Over the course of the pandemic (2020-2022), Madhi had been an outspoken, articulate, and ardent advocate of Covid-19 vaccination as well as for increased access to these and other vaccines in Africa.

On his appointment as CBE, Madhi says: “The privilege of being conferred this honour is credit to the tremendous effort of the incredible Wits VIDA research team that I have the privilege of leading at Wits University – before, during and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. As a collective, and together with colleagues at the University of Oxford and in South Africa, we are proud to have contributed scientifically to informing the public health response to the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa and globally.”

Source: Wits University

EU Adds Heavy Menstrual Bleeding as Side Effects of Comirnaty and Spikevax

Covid vaccines
Photo by Mat Napo on Unsplash

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended that heavy menstrual bleeding should be added to the product information as a side effect of unknown frequency of the mRNA COVID vaccines Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNtech) and Spikevax (Moderna).

Heavy menstrual bleeding may be defined as bleeding characterised by an increased volume and/or duration which interferes with the person’s physical, social, emotional and material quality of life. Cases of heavy menstrual bleeding have been reported after the first, second and booster doses of Comirnaty and Spikevax.

The EMA’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) assessed this safety signal after reviewing the available data, including cases reported during clinical trials, cases spontaneously reported in Eudravigilance and findings from the medical literature.

After a review of the available data, the PRAC concluded that there is at least a reasonable possibility that the occurrence of heavy menstrual bleeding is causally associated with these vaccines and therefore recommended the update of the product information.

The available data reviewed involved mostly cases which appeared to be non-serious and temporary in nature.

There is no evidence to suggest the menstrual disorders experienced by some people have any impact on reproduction and fertility. Available data provides reassurance about the use of mRNA COVID vaccines before and during pregnancy. A review carried out by EMA’s Emergency Task Force showed that mRNA COVID vaccines do not cause pregnancy complications for expectant mothers and their babies, and they are as effective at reducing the risk of hospitalisation and deaths in pregnant people as they are in non-pregnant people.

Source: European Medicines Agency

Vaccine Acceptance is Increasing Around the World

Image of a syring for vaccination
Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

COVID vaccine acceptance across much of the world increased by 3.7% between 2020 and 2021, according to a new study published in Nature Communications.

In a June 2021 survey of over 23 000 individuals across 23 countries, the researchers found that 75.2% of respondents reported vaccine acceptance, up from 71.5% one year earlier.  

The study was carried out during a year of substantial but very unequal global COVID vaccine availability and acceptance, which required new assessments of the drivers of vaccine hesitancy and the characteristics of people not vaccinated.

Vaccine hesitancy was most consistently associated with concerns about vaccine safety and efficacy and mistrust in vaccine development. Other factors associated with vaccine hesitancy varied by country and included personal experience with COVID (eg, sickness or loss of a family member) and demographic characteristics (eg, gender, education, and income).

The authors also found that vaccine hesitancy was not associated with a country’s current COVID case burden and mortality. In June 2021, vaccine hesitancy was reported most frequently in Russia (48.4%), Nigeria (43%), and Poland (40.7%), and least often in China (2.4%), the UK (18.8%), and Canada (20.8%).

“In order to improve global vaccination rates, some countries may at present require people to present proof of vaccination to attend work, school, or indoor activities and events,” said CUNY SPH Senior Scholar Jeffrey Lazarus. “Our results found strong support among participants for requirements targeting international travellers, while support was weakest among participants for requirements for schoolchildren.”

Those who were vaccine-hesitant were also less likely to express support for vaccine mandates. “Importantly, however, recommendations by a doctor, or to a lesser extent by an employer, might have an impact on a respondent’s views on vaccination in some countries,” said CUNY SPH Dean Ayman El-Mohandes.

Although some countries are currently disengaging from evidence-based COVID control measures, the disease has by no means been controlled or ended as a public health threat. The authors note that for ongoing COVID vaccination campaigns to succeed in improving coverage going forward, substantial challenges remain. These include targeting those reporting lower vaccine confidence with evidence-based information campaigns and greatly expanding vaccine access in low- and middle-income countries.

The Role of Social Networks

The researchers also held a meeting to explore vaccine messaging. According to data presented from a European survey carried out by the Vaccine Confidence Project, the population group most exposed to social networks, ie people under 24, with secondary or university studies and living in urban areas, are the most reluctant to be vaccinated. Additionally, messages that call for vaccination as a “moral obligation” are strongly rejected compared to those that call for “protection,” which are more commonly well received.

As with previous studies, humour was shown to be one of the most effective ways to convey anti-vaccine messages. Therefore, participants in the meeting agreed on the need to disseminate the benefits of vaccines using this same tool, but without making fun of those who have mistaken beliefs about vaccines. In the face of misinformation, it is important to improve information on vaccination using simple language and channels that reach the population, such as social networks, the participants concluded.

Source: CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy

Closure Threat for SA’s COVID Vaccine Plant as Orders Dry up

Female scientist in laboratory
Photo by Gustavo Fring on Pexels

South Africa’s COVID vaccine production plant, the first of its kind in Africa is at risk of closure after failing to secure a single according to a report from Reuters. President Cyril Ramaphosa is reported to be in talks with three other African nations in effort to save the venture.

The World Health Organization had called the licensing deal between Johnson & Johnson and Aspen Pharmacare to manufacture the Aspenovax COVID vaccine, a “transformative moment” in the pursuit of equitable access to vaccines. The vaccine is the J&J adenovirus vector vaccine sold under the Aspen brand.

However, after initial vaccine delivery shortfalls, the African continent is now well stocked with vaccines, while the poor infrastructure hampers vaccine distribution.

“There’ve been no orders received for Aspenovax,” Reuters reported, citing a phone conversation with Aspen senior director Stavros Nicolaou.

“If we don’t get orders, we would have to repurpose these lines back into other things that we were previously doing,” he told CapeTalk.

There are several other such vaccine plants in various stages, as the African Union aims at 60% of locally produced vaccines for continent locally by 2040, up from the current 1%.

“If Aspen doesn’t get production, what chance is there for any of the other initiatives?” Nicolaou remarked.

Regarding possible options, he said: “We are exploring various options. It is our medium-to-long-term objective to look at providing a sterile [processing] platform and solutions for the continent but the short-term needs to be sorted out.”

Moderna announced an agreement with Kenya to set up its first mRNA manufacturing facility in Africa with the aim of producing up to 500 million doses a year.

Source: Seeking Alpha

Rare COVID Vaccine Blood Clots May Result from Genetics

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Scientists have discovered that the rare blood clot side-effect associated with some COVID vaccines could be the result of a specific gene variant, which could make a genetic screening test possible.

Vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), a rare disorder causing thrombosis and thrombocytopenia (low blood platelet counts), was linked to AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine in early 2021, leading some countries to pause or restrict its use. It is also associated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which also uses a viral vector.

Now, a new study may help to explain what’s causing the rare side effect. The study by Flinders University and SA Pathology is now available on the medRxiv preprint server and is awaiting peer review.

Examining five unrelated individuals who all had the clotting complication after vaccination, the researchers found that all of the patients had unusually structured antibodies against a protein called platelet factor 4 (PF4), which is involved in blood clotting.

In addition, all five shared a specific version of a gene responsible for producing these antibodies.

“We knew previously that PF4 was directly involved in the clotting disorder, and we knew that aberrant antibodies against PF4 are responsible, but what we don’t know is how and why some people develop them,” explained lead author Dr Jing Jing Wang.

The antibodies were all found to be derived from the same amino acid sequence. The researchers then found that all of the patients carried a specific variant of one gene, called IGLV3-21*02, most commonly occurring in people of European descent.

“The other specific amino acid sequences of these antibodies from each patient were derived from separate basic sequences but had all evolved to carry very similar properties, making them very potent attackers of the PF4 protein,” explained research team leader Professor Tom Gordon.

“Together, this suggests that it is the combination of a variant in a gene and the evolution of this antibody towards targeting the PF4 protein in a destructive manner, which is leading to this harmful side-effect.”

Though why the antibody is found in such a tiny number of vaccine recipients remains unknown, the identification of the gene could enable a genetic screening tool to identify patients who are at risk of this severe complication.

“It also provides a unique opportunity for targeted, specific therapy development aimed at neutralising this highly damaging but very specific antibody,” said Dr Wang.

Source: Flinders University

Three Doses are Needed for Same Protection against Omicron

Syringe injection into the upper arm
Image source: NCI on Unsplash

According to a large study published in The BMJ, mRNA vaccines are highly effective in preventing COVID hospital admissions related to the alpha, delta, and omicron variants. However, three doses are needed to achieve similar protection against omicron that two doses provide against delta and alpha.

The results also show that, although severity of disease among patients admitted to hospital is lower with the omicron versus delta variant, patients with omicron are still at risk of critical illness and death.

In order to guide vaccination policies and development of new vaccines, it is essential to understand COVID variants and vaccine efficacy.

Early studies suggested reduced vaccine effectiveness against infection and hospital admissions for omicron compared with earlier variants, but little is known about the effectiveness of vaccines to prevent the most severe manifestations of COVID, including respiratory failure and death, for patients with infection due to the omicron variant.

To address this, the researchers assessed COVID severity in the alpha, delta, and omicron variants among hospitalised adults and compared the effectiveness of two and three doses of mRNA vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) in preventing hospital admissions related to each variant.

Their findings are based on 11 690 adults admitted to 21 hospitals across the United States between March 2021 and January 2022: 5728 cases with COVID and 5962 controls without COVID.

Patients were classified into alpha, delta or omicron based on viral gene sequencing or by the predominant circulating variant at the time of hospital admission.

Vaccine effectiveness was then calculated for each variant and variants’ disease severity was compared with the World Health Organization’s clinical progression scale.

Effectiveness of two doses of an mRNA vaccine to prevent COVID hospital admission was found to be lower for the omicron variant than alpha and delta variants (65%, 85%, and 85%, respectively), whereas three doses were found to achieve 86% effectiveness against the omicron variant, similar to two doses against the alpha and delta variants.

Among unvaccinated adults hospitalised with COVID, the delta variant was associated with the most severe disease, followed by the alpha variant and then the omicron variant.

The omicron variant was, however, associated with substantial critical illness and death, with 15% of patients admitted to hospital with the omicron variant (vaccinated and unvaccinated) progressing to invasive mechanical ventilation, and 7% dying in hospital.

Nevertheless, vaccinated patients hospitalised with COVID had significantly less sever disease than unvaccinated patients across all variants.

As an observational study, cause cannot be established, and some variant misclassification may have occurred. Changes in clinical management during the periods when the alpha, delta, and omicron variants predominated were not accounted for. These could have affected outcomes, the researchers acknowledged.

Nevertheless, this was a large study with rigorous evaluation of vaccination status and of outcomes beyond hospital admission, suggesting that the results are robust.

As such, they say that mRNA vaccines “were associated with strong protection against hospital admissions with COVID due to the alpha, delta, and omicron variants” and that vaccination against COVID including a third dose of an mRNA vaccine, “is critical for protecting populations against COVID-associated morbidity and mortality.”

They concluded: “As the COVID pandemic continues to evolve, routine monitoring of vaccine effectiveness, especially against severe disease, and surveillance programmes to identify viral variants will be essential to inform decisions about booster vaccine policies and vaccine strain updates.”

Source: EurekAlert!

South African Biotech Company Replicates Moderna Vaccine

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Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, a South African biotechnology company, has nearly created a copy of Moderna’s COVID mRNA vaccine, without Moderna’s involvement, Nature reports.

The Cape Town-based company has so far made only microlitres of the vaccine, based on Moderna’s publicly available development data. This nevertheless is a success for a major initiative launched by the World Health Organization (WHO): a technology transfer hub meant to build vaccine manufacturing capacity in low- and middle-income countries.

During the COVID pandemic, the developers of mRNA vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech have sent more than 70% of their doses to wealthy nations. Meanwhile, millions of vaccine orders for southern hemisphere countries have been delayed. “Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccines are mainly still going to just the richest countries,” says Martin Friede, the WHO official coordinating the hub. “Our objective is to empower other countries to make their own.”

Much work needs to be done before Afrigen’s mRNA vaccine mimic can be distributed. But the WHO hopes that the process of creating it will lay the foundation for a more globally distributed mRNA vaccine industry in the future.

Gerhardt Boukes, chief scientist at Afrigen is proud to have helped complete this first step of the plan. Afrigen and its collaborators completed the process, beginning with mRNA encoding a modified portion of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, and finishing by encapsulating it in a lipid nanoparticle that delivers the vaccine to cells. “We didn’t have help from the major COVID vaccine producers,” he says, “so we did it ourselves to show the world that it can be done, and be done here, on the African continent.”

When the mRNA hub was launched by the WHO in June 2021, Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech did not respond to requests to help make their vaccines, so the WHO proceeded without their help. The Moderna vaccine was chosen to copy because there is more freely available data on it, and it has not vowed to enforce its patents.

The project started in late September, with a Wits University team spearheading the first step: making a DNA molecule that would serve as a template to synthesise the mRNA needed in the vaccine. While Moderna controversially patented this sequence, Stanford University researchers had deposited it into the online database Virological.org in March last year.

Patrick Arbuthnot, director of gene therapy research at Wits says, “We were not intimidated, because mRNA synthesis is a fairly generic procedure.” Despite delays in the shipment of raw materials, the team completed this process in ten weeks and sent vials of mRNA to Afrigen in early December.

Around this time, scientists worldwide emailed offers of assistance. Some were researchers at the US National Institutes of Health who had conducted foundational work on mRNA vaccines. Petro Terblanche, Afrigen’s managing director, said that it was “extraordinary”. “I think a lot of scientists were disillusioned with what had happened with vaccine distribution, and they wanted to help get the world out of this dilemma.”

On 5 January, Afrigen’s researchers accomplished another tricky part of the process: They encapsulated the mRNA in a fatty nanoparticle made of a mixture of lipids. Boukes says they haven’t yet used Moderna’s specific lipid mixture, but rather another one that was immediately available from the manufacturer of the machine that the laboratory uses to create lipid nanoparticles. They plan to use Moderna’s lipid mixture in the coming days, as soon as one last analytical instrument arrives. After that, the team will analyse the formulation to ensure that it is truly a near copy of Moderna’s vaccine.

Once a reliable copy is made, the next step is increasing production. Jason McLellan, a structural biologist at the University of Texas at Austin whose work was foundational to the development of several COVID vaccines, says he is not surprised that SA scientists seem to have copied Moderna’s vaccine, but he adds that scaling up production of that original shot required a lot of additional innovation by manufacturers.

For the next phase of the project, several southern hemisphere companies will learn from Afrigen and attempt to create batches of vaccines themselves, in preparation for animal testing. By end November, the WHO expects a Moderna clone to be ready for phase I trials in humans.

What happens beyond that is unclear. Moderna might choose to license its patent (lab research is usually not subject to patent rules), or alternatives may become available, such as next-generation mRNA vaccines that do not require ultracold storage.

Source: Nature

SA Healthcare Bolstered With Vaccine Lab Investment and Loans

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Last week, South African healthcare received a double shot in the arm with the opening of a local vaccine manufacturing facility and the approval of a World Bank loan to bolster social safety nets and health systems.

On Wednesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa and health technology billionaire Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong officially opened a new vaccine manufacturing facility in Brackenfell, Western Cape.

The South African-born entrepreneur has been strongly supporting local healthcare, with R3 billion invested to help SA share vaccine technology with the rest of Africa. His company, ImmunityBio, is developing a T-cell based universal COVID vaccine, currently in Phase III trials in SA. The same adenovirus vector technology it uses is also being tested in cancer vaccines.

“It has been a dream of mine, since I left the country as a young physician, to bring state-of-the-art, 21st century medical care to SA and to enable the country to serve as a scientific hub for the continent,” Dr Shoon-Siong had previously said. The technology transfer will help “establish much-needed capacity and self-sufficiency.”

The hub will transfer technology, know-how and materials for DNA, RNA, adjuvant vaccine platforms and cell therapies to SA.

“There is no reason we couldn’t make 500 million doses a year,” said Dr Soon-Shiong, who is also a Wits alumnus. “Subject to the raw material being available.”

He said he wants to tap the country’s expertise on prevalent diseases such as HIV and cervical cancer. “There are fantastic scientists with deep knowledge about these diseases,” he said. “More so than in America because they see these patients every day.”

President Ramaphosa and Dr Soon-Shiong also launched the Coalition to Accelerate Africa’s Access to Advanced Healthcare, which aims to drive the development of innovative therapeutics and ensure the continent is prepared for future pandemics.

The coalition aims to manufacture a billion doses of the COVID vaccine by 2025 and to develop treatments for conditions including cancer, COVID, tuberculosis and HIV.

South Africa also received approval from the World Bank for a US$750 million COVID relief loan aimed at reducing the worst of the pandemic’s impact on the poor.

“The World Bank budget support is coming at a critical time for us and will contribute towards addressing the financing gap stemming from additional spending in response to the COVID crisis,” said Dondo Mogajane, Director General of the National Treasury. “It will assist in addressing the immediate challenge of financing critical health and social safety net programs whilst also continuing to develop our economic reform agenda to build back better.”

Meanwhile, Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla warned that South Africa will likely enter a fifth wave when cold temperatures in May, though what COVID variants may drive it remain to be seen.

J&J Booster Shot Reduces Omicron Hospitalisation by 85%

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Administering a booster shot of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID vaccine was found to be 85% effective in preventing serious illness in Omicron-dominated areas, preliminary results from a South African trial study show.

The South African Medical Research Council performed the study on health workers from 15 November to 20 December, but has not yet been peer-reviewed. It found the booster was effective in largely protecting staff as Omicron came to dominate the country.

“The increase in CD8+ T-cells generated by the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may be key to explaining the high levels of effectiveness against severe COVID disease and hospitalisation in the Sisonke 2 study, as the Omicron variant has been shown to escape neutralising antibodies,” Johnson & Johnson reported in a statement. That data showed that the booster jab “provides 85 percent effectiveness against hospitalisation in areas where Omicron is dominant/”

“This adds to our growing body of evidence which shows that the effectiveness of the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine remains strong and stable over time, including against circulating variants such as Omicron and Delta,” it continued.

Around half a million South African health staff have received Johnson jabs as part of clinical trials. South Africa has recorded more than 3.5 million cases and 94 000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

An earlier South African study in December found the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to be less effective overall against Omicron, but still reduced hospital admissions by up to 70%.

Source: MedicalXpress