The Oxford Vaccine Will Work Against Severe Forms Of The South African Covid-19 Variant, Minister Says
3 min read
The government is today reassuring Brits that the Oxford vaccine, which is central to the UK's vaccine rollout, will be successful in suppressing the virus even if new variants continue to emerge.
A scientist behind a recent trail conducted in South Africa believes the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine will be highly effective in reducing severe disease, hospitalisations and deaths in people who catch the South African variant.
Ministers are moving to curb fears of the vaccine rollout being undermined after new study of 2,000 young South Africans, revealed by the FT, suggested that the Oxford jab provided "minimal" protection against less severe and mild forms of the South Aftican variant.
The findings led the South African government to halt the rollout of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on Sunday.
Health Minister Edward Argar BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning that a "key, key takeaway" from the new research is that there was no evidence to suggest that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine wouldn't be effective in preventing the most serious outcomes: severe illness, hospitalisations and death.
“This is a small study," the minister said.
"It is a 2,000 person sample, average age 31. Yes, it does appear to show on that basis is the vaccine may not be as effective against mild or less severe form of the disease. I caveat it with the fact it’s still only one study."
He referred Andrew Marr's interview with Oxford University's Professor Sarah Gilbert on Sunday, in which she said that with the Oxford jab, "there is still protection against deaths, hospitalisations and severe disease" caused by the South African variant.
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Argar said: “Ultimately, that is a key, key takeaway that we all need to remember on this.”
The University of the Witwatersrand’s Professor Shabir Madhi, who led the study in South Africa, said analyis of a vaccine similar in design to the Oxford jab, developed by Johnson & Johnson, showed there was "hope" to believe that it would be effective in preventing the worst outcomes.
"In South Africa, with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, a single dose reduced severe disease by 89%. Now these two vaccines use similar sorts of technology. They are very similar in terms of their immunogenicity," he told the Today programme.
“I think extrapolating from that, there is still some hope that the Aztrazenica vaccine might well perform as well as the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in a different age group demographic at higher risk of severe disease."
Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawai on Sunday urged Brits to keep faith in the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, writing for The Telegraph that the country could still “take confidence from the current roll out and the protection it will provide all of us against this terrible disease.”
He wrote: "We need to be aware that even where a vaccine has reduced efficacy in preventing infection there may still be good efficacy against severe disease, hospitalisation, and death. This is vitally important for protecting the healthcare system”.
Ministers are also stressing that while the South African variant is the dominant form of the virus in South Africa, it currently accounts for just 147 known cases in the UK.
The government last week launched door-to-door "surge" testing in postcodes across the country where cases of the South African variant of the coronavirus have been found.
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