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* South Africa could inoculate 100,000 initially
* Country put AstraZeneca vaccinations on hold
* Britain, France, Germany, Australia voice support for shot
(Recasts with comments from South African medical adviser)
By John Revill
GENEVA, Feb 8 (Reuters) - South Africa will roll out the
AstraZeneca vaccine in a "stepped manner" to assess its efficacy
in preventing severe illness, a senior official said, as Western
governments rushed to back the shot after South Africa halted
its inoculation programme.
South Africa said on Sunday it would pause its use of the
vaccine after research showed it was only minimally effective in
preventing mild illness against a variant of the coronavirus now
dominant in the country.
Professor Salim Abdool Karim, co-chair of South Africa’s
Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19, said it was too
early to say whether the AstraZeneca vaccine would still be
effective in preventing serious disease.
And while South Africa would pause the roll-out for now in
order determine its next steps, it could vaccinate 100,000
people with the shot to see how well it worked on preventing
hospitalisations and deaths.
"We don't want to vaccinate people with a product which may
not prevent hospitalisation or reduce disease," Abdool Karim
told a news conference.
South Africa announced its pause after researchers from the
University of Witwatersrand and the University of Oxford found
that the AstraZeneca vaccine provided only minimal protection
against mild or moderate infection from the local variant.
The research has not yet been peer reviewed and did not
provide data on older people most likely to die or need
hospitalisation. There was no data on whether the vaccine would
prevent severe illness, and researchers said that was still
possible.
SERIOUS INFECTIONS
Western governments spoke out in favour of the vaccine,
which they have mostly approved.
French Health Minister Olivier Veran argued that the
AstraZeneca vaccine provided sufficient protection against
"nearly all the variants" of the virus.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said current evidence
suggested all three vaccines approved in Europe - which include
AstraZeneca - provided effective protection against serious
infections.
Britain and Australia urged calm, citing evidence that the
vaccines prevented grave illness and death, while AstraZeneca
said it believed its shot could protect against severe disease.
"We think that both the vaccines that we're currently using
are effective in, as I say, in stopping serious disease and
death," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters.
Britain also uses the Pfizer shot.
"We also think in particular in the case of the Oxford
AstraZeneca vaccine that there's good evidence that it is
stopping transmission, as well, I think 67% reduction in
transmission."
Australia is expected approve the use of the AstraZeneca
vaccine within days and expressed confidence in it.
"There is currently no evidence to indicate a reduction in
the effectiveness of either the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccines
in preventing severe disease and death. That is the fundamental
task, to protect the health," Health Minister Greg Hunt said.
But if vaccines do not work as effectively as hoped against
new and emerging variants, then the world could be facing a much
longer - and more expensive - battle against the virus than
previously thought.
The AstraZeneca vaccine was the big hope for Africa as it is
cheap and easy to store and transport. South Africa, which had
hoped to roll out the shot this month, has around 1 million
doses it has received from the Serum Institute of India.
The variant dominant in South Africa is circulating in at
least 40 other countries, including the United States.
Austria warned against non-essential travel to its Alpine
province of Tyrol because of an outbreak of the South African
variant. Cases were also detected north of Paris, forcing one
school to close.
VACCINE SHOCK
An analysis of infections by the South African variant
showed there was only a 22% lower risk of developing
mild-to-moderate COVID-19, more than 14 days after being
vaccinated with the AstraZeneca shot, versus those given a
placebo.
Protection against moderate-severe disease, hospitalisation
or death could not be assessed in the study of around 2,000
volunteers who had a median age of 31, as the target population
were at such low risk.
Professor Shabir Madhi, lead investigator on the AstraZeneca
trial in South Africa, said the vaccine's similarity to another
produced by Johnson & Johnson, which reduced severe disease by
85%, suggested it would still prevent serious illness or death.
Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at the University of
Oxford, said efforts were under way to develop a new generation
of booster shot vaccines that will allow protection against
emerging variants.
(Reporting by John Revill in Geneva; Additional reporting by
Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton in LONDON, Alex Winning in
JOHANNESBURG; editing by Giles Elgood and Jon Boyle)
