First Covid-19 vaccine trial kicks off on SA soil
In a major milestone for the country, the continent and the global fight against the pandemic, the first participants from across Africa will be vaccinated this week in an SA trial as the world searches for a vaccine against Covid-19.
Called The South African Ox1Cov-19 Vaccine VIDA-Trial, it has enrolled 1,950 adult volunteers, aged 18 to 65, all of whom are HIV-negative.
Additionally, 50 HIV-positive volunteers have enrolled.
All are intended to remain on the trial for a year.
Researchers at sites in Gauteng will begin testing the
Covid-19 vaccine in human volunteers today, and the study may be extended to sites in Cape Town over the next few weeks.
In addition to the SA cohort, 5,000 Brazilians are enrolled, and in earlier phases of the trial, after the vaccine was developed at the Oxford Jenner Institute, 4,000 Britons were enrolled, while plans for an additional 10,000 participants are under way.
An even larger study (of the same vaccine) is planned for the US, where up to 30,000 people will be enrolled.
“The objective of the trial is to investigate if the vaccine will protect against Covid-19, doesn’t cause unacceptable side effects, and if it induces satisfactory immune responses,” Wits University said.
By vaccinating volunteers with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, scientists hope to make the human body recognise and develop an immune response that will help stop the SARS-CoV-2 virus from entering human cells and causing Covid-19.
Wits University is collaborating with Oxford University on the trial, with funding from the SA Medical Research Council and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
At the helm is Prof Shabir Madhi, professor of vaccinology at Wits University, who is also on the Covid-19 advisory committee to the government.
He said yesterday: “SA is nearing the mark that countries like the UK and Italy reached at their peak — when around 35,000 new cases were appearing each week.”
He said this phase of the vaccine trial would be concluded in mid-August and followup of all participants would take place over the next year.
“For at least the next two years, we will not have access to vaccines and we need to adhere strictly to non-pharmaceutical interventions like social distancing, masks and hand hygiene.”