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GABORONE, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Botswana will move ahead with
plans to use AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, the
southern African country's health minister said on Monday,
despite neighbour South Africa pausing the rollout of the shots.
South Africa's decision to suspend use of the AstraZeneca
vaccine was based on preliminary data showing it offered minimal
protection against mild to moderate illness caused by the
dominant coronavirus variant there.
That more contagious variant - called 501Y.V2 - has been
detected in Botswana too.
Asked whether Botswana would be using the AstraZeneca
vaccine, Health Minister Edwin Dikoloti said in parliament: "Our
intended outcome is well-covered by what AstraZeneca offers."
"Recommendations we have received from the WHO (World Health
Organization) and the Africa CDC as well as our local scientists
and academia is that we can go ahead and use the AstraZeneca,"
he added.
The Africa CDC, the African Union's disease control body,
said last week it would not be "walking away" from the
AstraZeneca vaccine.
Botswana is due to receive AstraZeneca doses from the COVAX
Facility, a global vaccine distribution scheme co-led by the
WHO.
Dikoloti said that the first doses should start arriving
from COVAX in about four weeks' time and that they would be used
to start vaccinating frontline workers in health and other
important economic sectors.
AstraZeneca says it believes its vaccine protects against
severe COVID-19 and that it has started adapting it against the
501Y.V2 variant first identified late last year.
(Reporting by Brian Benza; Writing by Alexander Winning;
Editing by Emma Rumney)
