South Africa suspends use of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine
But the Australian government has downplayed concerns over its efficacy against new strains of SARS-CoV-2
Australia should forge ahead with its COVID-19 vaccination strategy and not be deterred by South Africa’s decision to suspend use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, a leading researcher says.
Overnight, the South African health minister Zweli Mkhize said the government had paused the rollout of the two-dose viral vector vaccine amid doubts over its efficacy against the highly transmissable B.1.351 strain.
In a television interview with Newzroom Afrika, Dr Mkhize said the vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford in the UK, had only 22%