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Mia Malan

@miamalan

10 Feb

[Thread] 1. SA will be getting Pfizer jabs to use in #VaccineRolloutSA. Those jabs need to be stored in special freezers at -70 degrees Celsius. We don't have many of those freezers. So how will SA cope?

2. #Mkhize: Pfizer is sending its #CovidVaccines to SA in packaging that allows for the jabs to remain stable for a certain period until they get to a freezer. We've also had companies offering us access to the special freezers required so we can store the jabs safely.

3. Here's more background on the challenges with maintaining the cold chain with Pfizer jabs (some of these challenges have now been addressed with packaging that keeps the jabs at the right temp and more freezers that have become available). bit.ly/3q8UFHs

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Mia Malan

@miamalan

10 Feb

https://twitter.com/DrZweliMkhize/status/1359237712805572613

#Mkhize: [Thread] We want to use the best #CovidVaccine for SA. The #501YV2 variant has impacted on the efficacy of jabs. The results showing the impact on the #astrazenecavaccine only became available on Fri. We now know it doesn't prevent mild/moderate #COVID19 disease in SA.

https://twitter.com/DrZweliMkhize/status/1359237712805572613

#Mkhize: Government's process of procuring the #AstraZenecaVaccine started before the new results on lack of efficacy in South Africa became available.

#Mkhize: The public has concerns about the expiry date of the #AstraZenecaVaccine. The vaccine has not expired yet. The doses would have been used up by the April expiry date with our original #VaccineforSouthAfrica roll-out strategy.

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Mia Malan

@miamalan

7 Feb

Madhi: When researchers looked at protection that the #AstraZeneca jab provided against mild to moderate #Covid19 disease, there was considerable protection against the original form of the virus. But the antibodies induced by the jab didn't work nearly as well for #501YV2.

There was very little difference between the protection the vaccine provided for people infected with #501YV2 and the placebo group (the group that was infected with a saline solution instead of the #AstraZeneca vaccine).

Madhi's team found that the #AstraZeneca vaccine provided almost no protection against the #501YV2 variant, also known as the #B1351 variant. There is hope: the Johnson&Johnson (Jansen) jab provides 89% protection against severe #Covid19 caused by #501YV2.

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Mia Malan

@miamalan

7 Feb

@ShabirMadh

.@ShabirMadh, principal investigator of the SA arm of the #astrazenecavaccine: This slide explains who participated in the SA arm of the study: Adults between 18 and 65, everyone got 2 doses, 2000 participants. To show protection we need 60% protection, Madhi says.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca study wasn't designed to determine whether the vaccine protects against severe #COVID19 disease or not. Rather, it looked at mild to moderate disease.

Those who develop severe disease are the ones who will end up in hospital or die - it's important that vaccines protect against severe disease. But our study only looked at if the vaccine protects against mild and moderate #COVID19 disease.

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Mia Malan

@miamalan

7 Feb

[Thread] 1. NEW Early data (not yet peer reviewed) shows the #AstraZeneca #CovidVaccine, that SA will start to administer this month, doesn't appear to offer protection against mild/moderate disease caused by the #501YV2 variant identified in the country. bit.ly/3pZ30xx

2. Mild disease #COVID19 disease was defined as at least one symptom of COVID-19. Protection against moderate-severe COVID19, hospitalisation or death was not assessed in this study as the target population were at low risk (they were young and healthy - on average 31 years old).

3. The study results, which will be submitted as a preprint in the coming days, show two doses of the #AstraZeneca jab did have high efficacy against the original coronavirus non-#501YV2 variants in South Africa. bit.ly/3pZ30xx

Read 6 tweets

Mia Malan

@miamalan

1 Feb

@PresidencyZA

[Thread] 1. What will happen to our #CovidVaccines when they land today? @PresidencyZA says the 1 million #AstraZeneca jabs will arrive at OR Tambo at 3pm. They’ll be received by #CyrilRampahosa, #ZweliMkhize + the Indian High Commissioner, amongst others. bit.ly/3j8aADs

2. The pallets of #CovidVaccines will then go through customs and be transported to a temperature-controlled Biovac warehouse in Johannesburg. Biovac is the pharmaceutical company that will handle the logistics of today's consignment of #CovidVaccines. bit.ly/3oFLYmI

3. Each #CovidVaccine box of vials has a temperature monitoring device that keeps a record of the jabs’ temperature at all times during the trip. A vial contains 10 doses of vaccine (with each dose to be extracted by syringe at the time of vaccination). bit.ly/3oFLYmI

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