South Africa is in a new phase of the COVID pandemic. But vaccination remains crucial.
- Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand
This is a transcript of The Conversation Weekly podcast episode published on February 3 2022.
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The South African government has chosen a pragmatic approach that balances the potential direct and detrimental indirect effects of Covid.
Dunia perlu belajar untuk hidup dengan virus. Dan pemerintah harus mengikuti sains dan tidak mendistorsinya untuk kepentingan politik.
The world needs to learn to live with the virus. And governments must follow the science and don’t distort it for political expediency.
The focus of the government seems to be about how many people can get vaccinated rather than ensuring the greatest protection against severe disease and deaths.
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South Africa has a vaccine supply, but the challenge is using the doses effectively before they expire.
When politicians and others speak about herd immunity, unfortunately, they are under the misconception that the current tools that we’ve got are adequate to eliminate the virus.
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Governments should drop the idea of herd immunity. It risks leaving people feeling disillusioned by vaccination campaigns.
Sudáfrica no se comprometió lo suficientemente pronto con las empresas farmacéuticas en las discusiones bilaterales para asegurarse un abastecimiento de vacunas temprano.
South Africa has clearly suffered the consequences of poor strategic decisions to this point. It doesn’t need to continue along these lines.
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The COVID-19 resurgence in South Africa is likely to take a heavy toll. It is important for vaccination efforts to be ramped up.
South Africa didn’t engage early enough with pharmaceutical companies in bilateral discussions to ensure it could get vaccines early.
The results indicate that the vaccine efficacy in the UK was 89% for individuals who received at least two doses of vaccine. In South Africa, the vaccine efficacy was 60% in people without HIV.
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The Novavax vaccine is the first that provides objective scientific evidence that it can protect people against the variant virus circulating in South Africa.
Critics of the South African government argue that it has done too little too late to secure vaccines, and that it doesn’t have a proper plan in place for rollout.
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It’s unlikely South Africa will have a substantial number of vaccines until the second half of this year. Most of the vaccines produced in Europe or America have been bought by other countries.
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A resurgence of the coronavirus in South Africa is almost impossible to avoid, but the timing and extent depend on people's behaviour.
The experience of the Oxford vaccine and the measures put into place are not unusual. Many phase one and phase two clinical trials have holding rules.
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A second vaccine trial is under way in South Africa. Here is all you need to know.
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South Africa is trialling a vaccine for COVID-19. Here's what you need to know about it.
There isn’t enough clinical research being done in Africa. This has had a lot of repercussions in terms of the timing when interventions become available and effective in high income countries.
South Africa’s testing and tracing has not been at a level needed to suppress the spread of COVID-19. It must now focus on containing opportunities for super-spreading and transmissions.
South Africa should base its COVID-19 mitigation strategy on the premise that the pandemic will last for two years unless a vaccine is developed before then.
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