Vaccines should be effective against new variants, say experts

DESPITE concerns over two variants of Covid-19 detected in South Africa, health experts say the vaccines will provide protection.

Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize confirmed that the country was on schedule to begin phase two of the vaccination programme, on May 17.

Two vaccines, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, will be used as part of the country’s vaccination programme.

There have been some concerns about two variants – the B.1.617.2 first identified in India, and the B.1.1.7 first identified in the UK.

Both have been detected in tests conducted in the country.

Mkhize said the variants were a matter of concern, but their appearance in the country was not unexpected.

He called for calm as scientists continued to study the impact of the variants. He said what was unknown at the moment was what type of impact the variants would have.

“The risk we have is that any of these variants can behave in a manner we cannot predict and we can only know once we have seen what they have done.

“To prevent the spread of the infection, the people in South Africa need to know the containment measures are the same,” Mkhize said.

Chairperson of the ministerial advisory committee, Professor Barry Schoub, said the vaccines would work against the B.1.617.2 variant first identified in India.

“I think we can extrapolate that our vaccines, both the Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer vaccines will, in all probability, work well against the B.1.617.2 variant,” he said.

Wits professor Shabir Madhi said he believed the vaccines would offer some protection against the B.1.617.2 variant, but cautioned that it might not be 100 percent effective because the variant had the same mutations first spotted in the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa.

The government has set its sights on vaccinating up to 16 million people, between May and October, and another 22 million by 2022.

While not all provinces are expected to reach the timeline by the end of the year, the Department of Health said the remaining vaccines would be administered next year.