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Summary
- At a press conference at the Downing Street on Monday, Professor Jonathan Van-Tan reassured Brits that they were safe after South Africa suspended AstraZeneca’s vaccine rollout.
- A recent study has highlighted that AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is not so effective against the South African variant.
England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO) Jonathan Van-Tam has assured Brits that it is unlikely that the Covid-19 strain which emerged in South Africa will become dominant in the country since very few numbers of cases have been detected yet.
Addressing a press conference on Monday (9 February), he said that the new South African mutation did not experience a transmissibility advantage as compared to the UK strain that was detected last year in Kent. Also, he believed that the vaccines currently circulating in the UK would effectively prevent severe illness in people infected with the South African variant.
The move comes just after a small trial was carried out for 2,000 young adults who were administered the AstraZeneca PLC (LON: AZN), and Oxford University vaccine was carried out. It had shown a reduced level of protection against the South African variant, which prompted the government to suspend the use of their jab temporarily.
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Related Read: South Africa suspends Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine rollout
Not only Professor Jonathan, the World Health Organization (WHO) officials have also come out in support of the AstraZeneca jab, expressing confidence that the vaccine can prevent severe cases, despite the notion that it offers lesser protection against the South African variant.
Results demonstrated by other vaccine candidates
In January, Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine (currently in use in the UK) had revealed the results of a lab trial which suggested that their vaccine was found to be effective against the South African variant.
Similarly, Moderna had also conducted laboratory tests of its vaccine on the new variants, which gave similar results as Pfizer's.
Interesting Read: Lab tests confirm BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX), Pfizer vaccine effective against new Covid-19 variants
However, Van-Tam has suggested that people belonging to high-risk groups might need booster jabs annually or biennially.
The vaccine candidates have been reportedly working on renovating their vaccines to deal with new mutations of the virus. The findings should not raise concern among the UK people as the Kent variant was the dominant strain currently, which was the immediate threat for the UK, the professor stated.
At the Downing Street press conference, England's deputy chief medical officer also urged the people to get vaccinated.
At the same time, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that almost 25 per cent of adults in the UK had been vaccinated with the first dose of vaccine exceeding his expectations. He further confirmed that by 7 February, 91 per cent of the people belonging to the age group of above 80 years had been given their first doses.
But Van-Tam refused to comment on the possible new restrictions during the summer. Earlier, PM Boris Johnson had indicated that travel curbs might tighten instead of getting relaxed over the coming months as border controls would work best when infection rates were lower.
