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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
* Minister says shots secured for all those who need it
(Updates with health minister)
By Alexander Winning and Wendell Roelf
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.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said some African countries had
already expressed an interest in acquiring South Africa's
AstraZeneca doses. He said vaccinations were due to begin this
week and that President Cyril Ramaphosa would announce the date
and time of the first shot.
"I can also say that we have actually secured enough doses
to vaccinate all the people who will need to be vaccinated in
South Africa," Mkhize told lawmakers, without saying how he
arrived at that calculation.
The government had initially planned to vaccinate 40 million
people, or two-thirds of the population, to achieve some level
of herd immunity, but it is not clear whether that target still
stands.
CONTAGIOUS VARIANT
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 the mass vaccination
campaign will be.
The health ministry said on Tuesday that the manufacturers
of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine had submitted documentation to
local medicines regulator SAHPRA for registration.
It added that scientists were conducting 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.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning in Johannesburg and Wendell
Roelf in Cape Town
Editing by Nick Macfie)
