Geneva: After South Africa’s decision to halt roll out of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on grounds that it provided little protection to older people against the new Covid variant in the country, World Health Organisation’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE) has strongly recommended its use saying it is the “right thing to do’ for everyone.
WHO’s head of immunisation, Dr Kate O’Brien, told reporters last night that the South African study’s findings were “inconclusive, albeit demonstrating a low efficacy against mild and moderate disease”.
Dr. Alejandro Cravioto, Chair of SAGE, said: “Even if you have the circulation of a variant in a country, there is no reason that we see for now, not to use the AstraZeneca vaccine as indicated, to be able to reduce the levels of severe disease in that population.
SAGE Executive Secretary, Dr Joachim Hombach, described the South African study as “relatively modest” at a press conference here, , while Dr. Cravioto added that few over 65s had taken part in it.
The WHO on February 10, 2021 also issued interim recommendations for use of the AZD1222 (ChAdOx1-S [recombinant]) vaccine against COVID19 developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, and noted:
“The AZD1222 vaccine against COVID-19 has an efficacy of 63.09% (95% CI 51.81; 71.73) against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, as shown by the primary analysis of data irrespective of interdose interval (data cut 7 December 2020) from trial participants in the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa who received 2 standard doses.”
It pointed out that vaccine efficacy tended to be higher when the interval between doses was longer. This, together with the finding of higher antibody levels with increasing interdose interval, supports the conclusion that longer dose intervals within the 4–12 weeks range are associated with greater vaccine efficacy. “No vaccinated persons were hospitalized as from 22 days after dose 1, compared with 14 unvaccinated persons who were hospitalized for COVID-19 in the same time frame,” it stated, and emphasised that the data reviewed by WHO supported the conclusion that the known and potential benefits of AZD1222 outweighed the known and potential risks.
Urging countries to use the AstraZeneca vaccine, WHO Chief Scientist, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, insisted: “The vast majority of countries that are still waiting to introduce a vaccine – and this vaccine may be the first one – certainly the benefits will far outweigh the risks.” At the same time she called for greater genomic monitoring of COVID-19 transmission in initiatives and said: “In many other countries the situation may be that with very limited sequencing they’ve been able to detect this variant, but they don’t know the spread. And therefore, they’re very cautious in making decisions based on very limited data.”
– global bihari bureau
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