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JOHANNESBURG, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The lead investigator on the
South African trial of AstraZeneca's vaccine said he
believed the vaccine had a major role to play in Africa and
globally, despite data showing it offered minimal protection
against mild-to-moderate COVID-19 disease by the country's
dominant virus variant.
Shabir Madhi from the University of the Witwatersrand in
Johannesburg told Reuters he would begin rolling out the 1
million AstraZeneca doses already in the country immediately,
since they have an expiry date in April and it would be reckless
to waste them.
South African health officials said on Sunday that they were
putting AstraZeneca vaccinations on hold temporarily while they
sought scientific advice on how to proceed. Vaccinations had
been due to start soon, after the first vaccine doses arrived by
plane from India last week.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning;
Editing by Alison Williams)
