‘Support scientists in vaccine quest’

Our long-term hope lies with them: expert

“The plan is to find out from our scientists as to what do we do with Astrazeneca going forward Dr Zweli Mkhize HEALTH MINISTER

SCIENTISTS need the total support of the South African community in the quest to find a Covid-19 vaccine, Prof Colleen Aldous, a healthcare scientist at the University of Kwazulu-natal’s School of Clinical Medicine, said yesterday.

This followed a media briefing by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize and scientists involved in finding a cure for the virus on Sunday evening where it was revealed that the roll-out of the Astrazeneca vaccine was put on hold. This was due to a number of reasons, including that the batch brought into the country from India expires in April as opposed to the expected six-months life span.

It was also revealed that the vaccine offered less protection because of a SARSCOV-2 variant that could dodge some antibodies.

The South African trial of the vaccine, conducted in about 2 000 people, reportedly found a low efficacy against mild and moderate disease, under 25%, that would not meet minimal international standards for emergency use.

The country last week received 1million doses of the Astrazeneca-oxford vaccine and began to offer them to healthcare workers, making it the first Covid-19 vaccine available in the country outside of clinical trials.

Epidemiologist Salim Abdool Karim, who co-chairs the South African Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19, said at the press conference that the roll-out of the vaccine in South Africa “needs to be put on temporary hold” in light of the “disappointing” results.

Professor Shabir Mahdi of the University of Witwatersrand, the trial’s principal investigator, said: “It is time unfortunately for us to recalibrate our expectations of Covid-19 vaccines, as well as how we go about deciding how to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa and globally.”

He stressed that the vaccine may still trigger a powerful T-cell response, which could target and eliminate cells that the variant managed to infect.

He presented a test-tube study showing how the mutations in the spike protein that allow B.1.351. to dodge neutralising antibodies have little impact on T-cell responses.

Mkhize said the vaccination programme would still go ahead with the use of Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer vaccines in the coming weeks while scientists ponder how the Astrazeneca shot could be deployed.

“The plan is to find out from our scientists as to what do we do with Astrazeneca going forward,” Mkhize said.

Aldous said since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic there has been much hope pinned on a vaccine to eradicate the virus.

“This, after many years of research into vaccines against various viral diseases, became more urgent than ever as the morbidity and mortality, as well as economic havoc, ravaged communities across the planet since last year. We have not found a cure for the common cold in decades of searching, is it fair to expect the first shots at a vaccine to be the one to stop the SARS-COV-2 virus in its tracks? The urgency has pinned all hope on a vaccine as big pharma and academic institutions took to their laboratories and designed various methods of vaccination, based on the virus they knew. But, the virus has outwitted science, and has mutated, rendering some first efforts almost futile,” said Aldous.

“In this world war against the virus, we need to outwit it before it outwits us by mutating yet again. Scientists will have to seek new inspiration back at the drawing board to design a counter attack that could anticipate what the virus could do next. The challenge of designing a vaccine for Covid-19 is big, and has never been simple. It may be hit and miss for some time yet. And we need to support and encourage those scientists at the forefront of vaccine development because our long term hope of defeating this virus lies with them,” she said.

She said “the elephant” in the room was what to do with those people who were sick now, and who would still get sick before a successful vaccine was found and enough people have been vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. “Without an effective vaccine, we need to continue to look for cures as well as effective prophylaxis.

“The ivermectin saga continues with a Controlled Compassionate Access Programme being allowed by SAHPRA, but still, there are no stocks for doctors to prescribe.

“We may be getting over the second wave, but Easter will see the start of a third wave as people attend religious ceremonies this year that they reluctantly gave up in the hard lockdown last year.

“The autumn change of seasons will exacerbate the upswing in infection rate, and the only way we will prevent the repeated carnage of the second wave is by either prophylaxis or cure,” she said.

Political analyst Xolani Dube said President Cyril Ramaphosa must act against Mkhize for what he called a total lack of diligence in handling the Coronavirus procurement process.

Dube said: “There is a department which deals with everything health related, so the president must act against Minister Zweli Mkhize.”