UK defends Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine as South Africa suspends launch

Study showed vaccine failed to prevent mild and moderate cases of Covid caused by new variant

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits a vaccination centre at the Derby Arena velodrome. Reuters

Boris Johnson visits SureScreen Diagnostics in Derby. Reuters

Boris Johnson speaks with an employee at SureScreen Diagnostics. Reuters

An NHS employee looks over the vaccination bays at the Elland Road mass vaccination centre in Leeds. AP Photo

A healthcare worker shows an elderly woman how to take her swab sample, at a minibus that was converted into a mobile test centre in Walsall. Reuters

Members of staff speak to residents as they carry out mobile door-to-door virus testing to assess the prevalence of the South African Covid-19 variant in the Ealing district of London. AP Photo

A woman is vaccinated at a Covid-19 pop-up vaccination centre, at the East London Mosque in Whitechapel, London. AP Photo

Olivia Smart, advanced practitioner, vaccinates Mewa Singh Khela, 72, with his first dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine at the Elland Road vaccination centre in Leeds. AP Photo

Pedestrians walk past an NHS Covid-19 vaccination centre in Westfield Stratford City shopping centre in east London. AFP

A deserted Regent Street in London as the third national lockdown continues. AP Photo

Volunteers stand outside a temporary vaccination hub at the Colchester Community Stadium in Colchester. AFP

People arrive to receive the Covid-19 vaccine at Crystal Palace Football Club vaccination centre in London. Reuters

A very quiet Mayfair in London. AP Photo

Face coverings are placed on the statues of former US President Franklyn D. Roosevelt and former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Mayfair, London. AP Photo

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he is confident AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine helps prevent serious illness and death.

He spoke after a new study found it failed to prevent mild and moderate cases of the disease caused by the South African coronavirus variant.

South Africa was due to start its campaign within days, with a million doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.

But the country, which has reported far more cases than any other African country, suspended the campaign on Sunday based on the results.

The study of about 2,000 people suggested the shot offered only minimal protection against mild symptoms of the South African variant.

“It’s a temporary issue that we have to hold on AstraZeneca until we figure out these issues,” Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said.

But AstraZeneca said none of the 2,000 participants developed serious signs of disease.

That could mean it would still have an effect on severe illness, although not enough data is yet available to make a definitive judgment.

Mr Johnson said the vaccine was still effective in preventing serious illness and death.

“We think that both the vaccines that we’re currently using are effective in, as I say, in stopping serious disease and death,” he said.

“We also think in particular in the case of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine that there’s good evidence that it is stopping transmission, as well, I think 67 per cent reduction in transmission.

“They remain a massive benefit to our country and the population.”

UK Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi urged people to remain confident in the efficacy of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine.

"While it is right and necessary to prepare for the deployment of an updated vaccine, we can take confidence from the current rollout and the protection it will provide all of us against this terrible disease," he wrote in The Telegraph.

“We need to be aware that even where a vaccine has reduced efficacy in preventing infection there may still be good efficacy against severe disease, hospitalisation and death.”

Mr Zahawi said there was likely to be a yearly follow-up Covid-19 vaccine campaign.

“We see very much probably an annual or booster in the autumn and then an annual [shot], in the way we do with flu vaccinations where you look at what variant of virus is spreading around the world, rapidly produce a variant of vaccine and then begin to vaccinate and protect the nation,” he said.

Prof Sarah Gilbert, the vaccine’s lead researcher, said a tweaked version of the vaccine designed to combat the South Africa variant was likely to be ready to use in the autumn.

But Dr Mike Tildesley of the University of Warwick in England said vaccinated people might still spread the virus to others.

"It means that even with high levels of vaccination there will be a lot of people who could get infected and pass it on. It may mean that more restrictions are needed for longer to get on top of this," he told BBC's Radio 4 Today programme.

Lagging behind in the global vaccination race, South Africa received its first delivery of a million doses on Monday. Another 500,000 doses are expected this month.

All are AstraZeneca vaccines produced by the Serum Institute of India and about 1.2 million health workers are first in line for the inoculation.

Mr Mkhize said that in the next four weeks, the country would have vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer/BioNTech.

Discussions with other vaccine makers are continuing, particularly Moderna and the makers of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

Mr Mkhize recently said South Africa had reserved 20 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses.

The 1.5 million AstraZeneca vaccines obtained by South Africa, which will expire in April, will be kept until scientists give clear indications on their use, he said.

“The second generation of the vaccine to fight all variants will take longer to produce,” said Salim Abdool Karim, epidemiologist and co-chair of the scientific committee at South Africa’s health ministry.

South Africa plans to vaccinate at least 67 per cent of its people, or about 40 million, by the end of the year.

The country has recorded more than 1.5 million infections and 46,000 deaths from the virus.