On Wednesday the medical regulator of South Africa annouced that AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 Vaccine is approved for the emergency purpose and the application from rival manufacturers, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer is in review.
This is a great news for the country as new strain of Covid-19 is also reported there, the use of vaccine may prove helpful in saving lifes and faltten the curve there.
South Africa will pay $5.25 per dose for 1.5 million shots of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII) and that is expected to arrive this month and February to provide protection for frontline workers.
“In terms of the AstraZeneca vaccine … this has been granted emergency use (approval) and there will be a press conference with the minister of health on this (later),” said Helen Rees, chairwoman of the South African Health Products Authority (SAHPRA) board, during a media briefing.
At the same briefing, SAHPRA’s chief executive said the application by J&J, which became first supplier in December to apply for registration, still needed further information before a decision was taken.
“These ones in particular are at a very advanced stage of Phase III studies wherein we’ve got initial data that indicates their safety and efficacy … We are still at that point with J&J where additional information is still required,” said Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela.
South Africa has suffered a major blow in recent times as a surge in number of infections by new and more contagious variant of virus called 01Y.V2, which causes 21,000 new cases in early January, although they have now eased to below 10,000.
