Thread by @HeidiGiokos

Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize together with others will brief the nation tonight regarding the vaccine. Reports have emerged that the AstraZeneca vaccine might not be as effective with the new 501Y.V2 variant of SARS-Cov-2. #vaccine

Minister Mkhize says this briefing is two fold, to give an update on the research done so far and secondly it’s to respond to the policy review to adjust some of the findings. #VaccineforSouthAfrica #Vaccine

Minister Mkhize says the trials done linked AstraZeneca have shown good results around the world. He does hint to some work still needing to be done here in South African and the vaccine. #VaccineforSouthAfrica #Vaccine

Professor Madhi says South African’s have been responding better to the vaccine then for example Brazil or the UK. This was up until the end of October 2020. But he says the unfortunate thing is viruses change and mutate.
#Vaccine #VaccineforSouthAfrica

Professor Madhi says the SARS-CoV-2 is expected to be with us for a lifetime. #Vaccine #VaccineforSouthAfrica

Professor Madhi says the AstraZeneca vaccine isn’t as effective because of the nee variant found in SA. Studies where done & up until October 2020 it was somewhat effective, with the new variant 501Y.V2 of SARS-Cov-2 things have now changed. #Vaccine #VaccineforSouthAfrica

Professor Madhi says results of the SA vaccine trial for AstraZeneca were "disappointing"
He adds it doesn’t show whether or not the vaccine can prevent severe illness from the new variant. #Vaccine #VaccineforSouthAfrica

Professor Madhi says not all hope is lost as the J&J is similar to the AstraZeneca vaccine. The J&J was much more effective against severe illnesses than against mild/moderate for even the new 501Y.V2 variant of SARS-Cov-2. There’s hope the AstraZeneca might work. #Vaccine

There may still be some effective utilization of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Prof Barry Schoub suggests there should maybe be a suspension of the vaccine for further studies especially excuse of the 501Y.V2 variant of SARS-Cov-2 that was found in SA. #Vaccine #VaccineforSouthAfrica

The country was planning on rolling out the vaccine by Wednesday with many provinces already done with their rollout plan. If there is a suggestion to do further studies of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to the new variant, what does this actually mean? 👀 #Vaccine

Dr Zweli Mkhize says in the next few weeks SA will have the J&J & Pfizer vaccine. Minister says he can’t give too much detail because discussions are still underway. He says this will be priority for the healthcare workers. He adds we still have AstraZeneca #vaccine

Dr Zweli Mkhize says when new information is brought to light and viruses change and mutate decisions needs to be made. This is possibly why the AstraZeneca vaccine rollout is on hold for now. #VaccineforSouthAfrica #Vaccine