Africa Responds: SA to Begin Continent's First Covid-19 Vaccine Trial

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Africa Responds: SA to Begin Continent's First Covid-19 Vaccine Trial

First Covid-19 vaccine trial in Africa began today (June 24) in South Africa as the country grapples with the highest number of coronavirus cases in Africa.  

The vaccine candidate, developed by the Oxford Jenner Institute in the United Kingdom, is already being evaluated there, where 4,000 participants have signed up for the trial.

In South Africa, the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) is collaborating with the University of Oxford and the Oxford Jenner Institute in the trial of the vaccine known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. The pilot will involve 2,000 people, including 50 who have HIV.

"We began screening participants for the South African Oxford 1 COVID-19 vaccine trial last week, and the first participants will be vaccinated this week," Wits vaccinology professor Shabir Madhi told a virtual news conference.

Brazil is planning its own pilot, while the United States is preparing to test another vaccine in a mass trial of up to 30,000 participants.

South Africa has one out of three of Africa's Covid-19 patients. Coronavirus cases in the country rose to more than 106,000 Monday, while the number of deaths topped 2,000.

About 3,500 doctors and nurses have contracted the virus since the start of the pandemic, and at least 34 have died of respiratory illness.

Source: AL JAZEERA





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