S. Africa eyes Novavax vaccine

Further studies urged on volunteers who are HIV-positive

JOHANNESBURG — News that the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine has shown about 60 percent efficacy on HIV-positive patients and that it seems to work against the variant of the virus now dominant in South Africa is being welcomed with relief in the country, but further studies are urged.

Results from a small Novavax Inc. study in South Africa suggest the vaccine does work but not nearly as well as it does against the variant from Britain. Early findings from a British study suggest the vaccine is nearly 96 percent effective against the older coronavirus and nearly 86 percent effective against the new variant there.

In South Africa, the new variant now causes more than 90 percent of new cases and is more infectious than the original virus.

On volunteers who are HIV-positive, preliminary studies in South Africa show the Novavax vaccine appears to be 60 percent effective. That has been welcomed in a country where nearly 7.7 million people live with the disease.

The South African Medical Association, which represents health practitioners, welcomed the finding but called for more research on other vaccines. The country is set to receive its first batch of AstraZeneca vaccines Monday from the Serum Institute of India.

“It is necessary to get clinical data on chronic illnesses including HIV because many of these vaccines are tested on people who are generally healthy, which means we take about three to five years to learn of side effects on people with chronic illnesses,” said the association’s chair, Angelique Coetzee.

“At least we now have some data on how they react to HIV-positive patients, but we need to get more scientific information,” she said.

She said there needs to be urgency in establishing other vaccines’ efficacy against the new variant in South Africa as it is already having a negative effect on the country.

“We are seeing travel bans on South African flights because there are still so many unanswered questions on the new variant,” she said. In other global developments:

■ Algeria launched its coronavirus vaccination campaign Saturday in the city where the country’s first COVID-19 case was confirmed in March.

The North African nation is using Russia’s Sputnik-V vaccine, and a 65-year-old retiree received the first shot at a hospital in Blida, a city about 25 miles southwest of the capital, Algiers.

■ Cuban authorities say they will tighten measures against the spread of COVID-19 to require tourists and other visitors to isolate at their own expense for several days until tests for the new coronavirus come out negative.

The announcement Saturday by Dr. Francisco Durán, Cuba’s director of epidemiology, came as the country announced 910 new infections of the new virus detected Friday and three additional deaths.