(Adds detail, context, Kenya)
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The African Union's disease
control body said on Thursday that it was not "walking away"
from AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, after trial data
showed it had greatly reduced efficacy against the coronavirus
variant dominant in South Africa.
African countries are due to receive 100 million doses of
the AstraZeneca shot this year under an AU vaccine plan.
Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong told a news conference
that more work needed to be done to understand how the vaccine
worked against the more contagious 501Y.V2 variant first
identified in South Africa late last year.
South Africa has paused the rollout of AstraZeneca shots to
health workers and said on Wednesday it could seek to sell or
swap doses of the vaccine.
Nkengasong added that six countries other than South Africa
had reported the presence of the variant. This has alarmed
health experts who have raised concerns about its ability to
potentially evade the immune response generated by prior
exposure to the coronavirus or vaccines.
The six countries are Botswana, Comoros, Ghana, Kenya,
Mozambique and Zambia.
"For countries that have not reported the circulation of the
501Y.V2 variant, we recommend that they proceed with the rollout
of the AstraZeneca vaccine," Nkengasong said.
"For countries that have reported the circulation of the
501Y.V2 variant, we recommend the acceleration of their
preparedness to introduce all vaccines that have received
emergency use authorisation or approval by regulatory
authorities. Consideration should be given to the effectiveness
of the vaccine against the 501Y.V2 variant."
Nkengasong said the Africa CDC would be doing its own
evaluations of the AstraZeneca vaccine across multiple countries
and that no countries had said they would not be using the
vaccine.
He added that the AU was in talks with Johnson & Johnson
on the supply of more COVID-19 vaccines, beyond the 120
million doses that already feature in its vaccine plan.
Separately, Kenya said it would move ahead with plans to use
the AstraZeneca vaccine.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning, Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and
Emma Rumney
Additional reporting by Duncan Miriri in Nairobi
Editing by Alison Williams and Nick Macfie)