South Africa’s Health Minister has decided and has asked Serum Institute, India to take back it’s million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine after the country officials last week decided to put a break on the roll out of the vaccination. The moves come after a clinical trial showed that AstraZeneca vaccination offered only a minimal protection against the virus.
The Health Minister previously said that the country may sell the consignment of doses after it decided to pause the vaccination process. Based on the data provided by University of Witwatersrand & Oxford University, AstraZeneca vaccine appeared to provide only restrained protection against South African variant.
South Africa is yet to launch its own COVID-19 vaccine but it has decided to start the vaccination process of healthcare workers with Johnson & Johnson vaccine’s which will be in the form of a implementation study with researchers. The decision comes after WHO-World Health Organization on Monday listed the use of AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccination for emergency use.