Last checked at 
* S.Africa received 1 mln AstraZeneca doses last week
* Had hoped to start vaccinating health workers soon
* But trial shows reduced efficacy vs virus variant
* Implications for continent as variant has spread
(Adds Malawi, Uganda, detail, context)
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson
will speed up deliveries of its COVID-19 vaccine to South
Africa, a senior government official said on Monday, after the
country suspended plans to roll out AstraZeneca shots
due to disappointing trial data.
Health ministry Deputy Director-General Anban Pillay told
state broadcaster SABC that the first J&J doses could arrive
around the end of the week, whereas officials had previously
said deliveries would start in the second quarter.
J&J said it was in advanced discussions with South Africa
about "potential additional collaborations" to combat COVID-19.
"We hope to be able to share more details in the coming
days," it said.
Preliminary trial data showing the AstraZeneca shot offers
only "minimal protection" against mild-to-moderate illness
caused by the dominant coronavirus variant in South Africa is a
blow to the continent's immunisation plans.
Media reported that Malawi was also reviewing whether to
proceed with an AstraZeneca rollout and a Ugandan health
ministry spokesman said the government there would seek guidance
from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The more contagious variant first identified in South Africa
late last year is believed to have spread to nine other African
countries, according to a WHO epidemiological report last week.
Although the trial by researchers at a Johannesburg
university did not assess whether the vaccine protects against
severe COVID-19 from the 501Y.V2 variant, the government is
holding talks with local and international scientists to decide
how to proceed.
Residents of Johannesburg's Soweto township said the trial
results were a big setback.
"It's just a disappointment because the only thing that we
were looking forward to ... set us free it was the vaccine,"
said Mabutho Dube, a 43-year-old former restaurant manager who
is currently unemployed.
CONTAGIOUS VARIANT
The AstraZeneca vaccine was seen as one of the best-suited
to weak African public health systems as it can be stored at
fridge temperatures, rather than the sub-freezing temperatures
needed for Pfizer shots.
The global vaccine distribution scheme COVAX plans to start
sending millions of vaccine doses to African countries this
month.
The lead investigator of AstraZeneca's vaccine study in
South Africa said on Sunday it would be reckless to discard the
million doses that arrived in the country last week as there was
still a chance that they could protect against severe COVID-19.
AstraZeneca, which developed the vaccine with Oxford
University, says it believes its vaccine can protect against
severe disease and has already started adapting it against the
501Y.V2 variant.
Asked whether the sample size of the South Africa trial was
large enough to draw conclusions from, Pillay said: "I don't
think we can be confident to say the vaccine doesn't work, but
we also don't have the data to say it certainly will work. What
we have are potential indicators."
Pillay said that J&J's vaccine was a good fit in the
meantime. Trials had shown that it was highly effective in
preventing hospitalisation and death, and it can also be stored
at fridge temperatures, he said.
Local regulator SAHPRA has not yet authorised J&J's vaccine
but has been conducting a rolling review since late last year.
South Africa - which has reported the highest number of
confirmed coronavirus infections in Africa and over 46,000
coronavirus-related deaths - hopes to vaccinate 40 million
people, or two-thirds of the population, to achieve some level
of herd immunity.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning and Siyabonga Sishi in
Johannesburg, Elias Biryabarema in Kampala and Frank Phiri in
Blantyre;
Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo, Susan Fenton and Nick Macfie)
