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* S.Africa paused AstraZeneca rollout after trial results
* Data showed vaccine less effective against variant
* Plans to share doses via African Union, recover money
* Medical association says J&J shots could arrive on Tuesday
(Updates with J&J doses expected on Tuesday)
By Alexander Winning
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 16 (Reuters) - South Africa plans to share
1 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses with other
African countries, a senior official said, as a medical
association said the first shots from rival Johnson & Johnson
could arrive on Tuesday.
The country paused the rollout of AstraZeneca doses this
month, after preliminary trial data showed they offered minimal
protection against mild to moderate illness from the country's
dominant coronavirus variant.
It has been consulting with scientists about what to do with
the AstraZeneca vaccine, switching to a plan to start
inoculating healthcare workers with J&J's alternative in a
research study. The South African Medical Association (SAMA)
said if the first shots arrived on Tuesday as expected, then
vaccinations could start on Wednesday.
Eighty thousand J&J shots are expected initially, and up to
500,000 health workers could be immunised in total in the study.
SAMA chairwoman Angelique Coetzee said vaccinations would
happen at hospitals in each of the country's nine provinces.
Roughly two-thirds of the doses would go to public-sector health
workers, and one-third to those in the private sector.
Anban Pillay, deputy director-general at the Department of
Health, said South Africa planned to share the 1 million
AstraZeneca doses it received at the start of the month from the
Serum Institute of India via the African Union (AU).
"The doses are going to be shared with countries on the
continent ... via the AU," Pillay told Reuters, adding that the
government would look to recover money spent on the AstraZeneca
vaccine but was still finalising how to do that.
He said it was not true that South Africa had asked the
Serum Institute to take back the doses, as reported by Indian
newspaper The Economic Times.
The AU's disease control body said last week it was not
"walking away" from AstraZeneca's vaccine but would target its
use in countries that have not reported cases of the more
contagious 501Y.V2 variant first identified in South Africa late
last year.
The AU said six countries other than South Africa had
confirmed the variant was circulating, but there are concerns it
has spread elsewhere.
AstraZeneca says it believes its two-dose vaccine protects
against severe COVID-19 and that it has started adapting it to
be more effective against the 501Y.V2 variant. J&J's vaccine is
administered in a single shot, an advantage given how complex a
logistical exercise it will be for the government to reach its
target of vaccinating 40 million people.
SPUTNIK DOCUMENTATION
South Africa's health ministry said the manufacturers of
Russia's Sputnik V vaccine had submitted documentation to local
medicines regulator SAHPRA for registration.
The ministry said it was "continuously engaging" with the
manufacturers of Sputnik V and that it had signed a
non-disclosure agreement with China's Sinopharm to receive more
information about its vaccine.
It added that scientists were conducting detailed analyses
on Sputnik V, following concerns about the effects of its Ad5
component on communities with a high prevalence of HIV.
South Africa has one of the highest HIV burdens globally.
SAHPRA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Additional reporting by Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; Editing by
Nick Macfie)
