PARIS, Feb 8 - French Health Minister Olivier Veran said on
Monday that he continued to support the AstraZeneca
COVID-19 vaccine, arguing it provided sufficient protection
against "nearly all the variants" of the virus.
Veran was shown on French television receiving the
AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at a centre in Melun, France.
A British junior health minister said on Monday there was no
evidence that the AstraZeneca vaccine did not prevent death or
serious illness, and added South Africa had only imposed a
temporary halt on using the vaccine.
South Africa decided to put on hold use of AstraZeneca's
COVID-19 shot in its vaccination programme after data showed it
gave minimal protection against mild-to-moderate infection
caused by the country's dominant coronavirus variant.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Jon Boyle)