South Africa also holds Astra after Switzerland… “Can’t stop the stool”

South Africa has decided to withhold the use of the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University in the UK. This is the second time the vaccine has been put on hold after Switzerland.

AstraZeneca vaccine. [EPA]

According to foreign media such as the British Guardian on the 7th (local time), South African Health Minister Zwell Riumkize held a press conference and announced that he would withhold the vaccination for the vaccine for some time and wait for further judgment from scientists.

South Africa, which received 1 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine on the 1st, was scheduled to begin vaccinating medical staff soon. However, when doubts about the efficacy and safety of the vaccine were raised, the vaccination was suspended and the vaccine was deposited until additional data were available. Instead, they decided to use a vaccine purchased from Pfizer-Bioentech and Johnson & Johnson.

The South African Ministry of Health’s decision reflects research findings that the AstraZeneca vaccine does not have a significant preventive effect against the mutant virus (501Y.V2) that has spread in the region.

Previously, the University of Oxford and the University of South Africa tested 2026 people, and found that two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine did not prevent mild and severe symptoms caused by South African mutations.

AstraZeneca said, “The effect was limited in mild cases,” he said. “Most of the test participants were young and healthy adults, so we couldn’t find out what effect it had in severe onset or hospitalization.”

On the 3rd, Switzerland withheld approval to use the AstraZeneca vaccine. This is because the data submitted by AstraZeneca are insufficient, making it difficult to properly evaluate the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.

In addition, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Poland, and Norway recommended that people aged 65 and over should not get the AstraZeneca vaccine, while Belgium restricted the vaccine to under 55 and Finland to under 70.

Reporter Lee Min-jung [email protected]