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South African government puts vaccination programme on hold
Just one week after welcoming the arrival of the first batch of one million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has halted the rollout of the vaccine.
Compounding the political and economic crisis facing his African National Congress (ANC) government, the debacle threatens the political survival of the ANC.
Cyril Ramaphosa (credit: Tasnim News Agency)
The decision follows preliminary studies suggesting that the vaccine offered minimal protection against mild and moderate forms of disease caused by the new B1.351 coronavirus variant (also known as 501.V2) accounting for 90 percent of COVID-19 infections in South Africa. The new variant is now spreading across the world, although many countries lack the capacity to detect the new strain on a systematic basis.
BENGALURU (Reuters) - South Africa has asked the Serum Institute of India to take back the one million COVID-19 vaccine doses the company had sent in early February, The Economic Times reported on Tuesday, a week after the country said it will put on hold use of AstraZeneca s shot in its vaccination program. Serum Institute of India, which is producing AstraZeneca s shot, has emerged as a key vaccine supplier. One million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine landed in South Africa last week and another 500,000 were due to arrive in the next few weeks. The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. South Africa s health minister has said the government may sell doses of AstraZeneca s vaccine, after the country paused its rollout following a small clinical trial that showed it offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness from the 501Y.V2 coronavirus variant dominant in the country. AstraZeneca has said its vaccine appeared to offer only limited protecti