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* Vaccine one of best suited to African health systems
* But trial showed lower efficacy vs variant in S.Africa
* S.Africa could seek to swap AstraZeneca doses
* AU disease body says to conduct own evaluations
* WHO recommends using vaccine even where variant present
(Updates after WHO briefing, adds AstraZeneca CEO)
By Alexander Winning and Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The African Union (AU) will
not be "walking away" from AstraZeneca's COVID-19
vaccine but will target its use in countries that have not
reported cases of the variant dominant in South Africa, the head
of its disease control body said on Thursday.
The comments come after South Africa paused the rollout of
the vaccine because of preliminary trial data showing it offered
minimal protection against mild to moderate disease caused by
the 501Y.V2 variant dominant in the country.
South Africa said on Wednesday it could seek to sell or swap
its AstraZeneca shots, and will use an alternative from Johnson
& Johnson to start protecting healthcare workers later
this month.
African countries are due to receive 100 million doses of
the AstraZeneca vaccine this year under an AU vaccine plan.
John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), told a virtual news conference
that more work was needed to understand how the AstraZeneca
vaccine worked against the fast-spreading 501Y.V2 variant first
identified late last year.
"For now our strategy is not to throw away our 100 million
doses, but rather target countries that as we indicated have not
reported cases of that specific variant," Nkengasong said,
adding that only six countries other than South Africa had
reported that the variant was circulating.
"You still have an extensive number of countries that can
benefit from those vaccines, so we will not be walking away from
AstraZeneca vaccines at all."
Kenya said on Thursday that it would move ahead with plans
to use the AstraZeneca shot.
Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization Africa
director, said the WHO was briefing African countries on a
recommendation by its SAGE panel of experts to use the
AstraZeneca vaccine, even in countries where the 501Y.V2 variant
may reduce its efficacy.
She said interactions with countries neighbouring South
Africa were "particularly intense" after eSwatini said on
Tuesday that it would not use the AstraZeneca shots.
"While a vaccine that prevents against all forms of COVID-19
illness is our biggest hope, preventing severe cases and
hospitalisations which overwhelm ... health systems is crucial,"
Moeti told another news conference.
ALARMING VARIANT
The 501Y.V2 variant partly worries health experts because of
its ability to potentially evade the immune response generated
by prior exposure to the coronavirus or vaccines.
African countries that have confirmed cases of the variant
include Botswana, Comoros, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia,
although there are concerns it has spread to other places like
eSwatini and Tanzania.
The Africa CDC recommended that countries that had not
detected the variant proceed with the AstraZeneca rollout.
For those where it is present, "we recommend the
acceleration of their preparedness to introduce all vaccines
that have received emergency use authorisation or approval by
regulatory authorities," Nkengasong said, adding that
"consideration should be given to the effectiveness of the
(AstraZeneca) vaccine against the 501Y.V2 variant."
Nkengasong said the Africa CDC would be doing its own
evaluations of the AstraZeneca vaccine across multiple
countries.
He added that talks were ongoing with Johnson & Johnson to
access more doses than the 120 million that feature in the AU's
vaccine plan.
Nkengasong said the rollout of 7 million AstraZeneca doses
funded by telecoms firm MTN would continue. "That plan
will still move forward, this is a good vaccine without the
variant," he said.
AstraZeneca says it has started adapting its vaccine against
the 501Y.V2 variant.
On Wednesday, South Africa said it wanted to see whether it
could swap AstraZeneca doses it had ordered from the Serum
Institute of India with shots of a different vaccine available
via the COVAX vaccine distribution scheme.
Asked about that idea, AstraZeneca's chief executive said on
Thursday that the drugmaker would support anything agreed
between the Serum Institute and the South African government.
(Additional reporting by Emma Rumney in Johannesburg, Duncan
Miriri in Nairobi and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt
Editing by Alison Williams and Nick Macfie)
