Mia Malan Profile picture
12 Mar, 9 tweets, 8 min read
[Thread] 1. To which #African countries have the new #COVID virus variants 1st identified in SA (501Y.V2/#B1351) + the UK (#B117) spread? To 21 countries so far — 8 have both variants. @bhekisisa_MG has created this map in collaboration with @mediahackza and Africa Data Hub.
2. The #501YV2 variant first identified in SA has spread to almost all Southern African countries. But the #B117 variant first identified in the UK, has now also been detected in South Africa — and so has a new variant first identified in Uganda. bit.ly/3bFqN0x
3. What are the implications of variants spreading? #B117 and #501YV2 spread faster than the original form of #SARSCoV2 (the virus the causes #COVID) because they’re more transmissible. That means more hospitalisations + deaths — because there are so many more #COVID cases.
4. There are also implications for #CovidVaccines. Clinical trials for the J&J, Novavax + AstraZeneca jabs have shown that the shots are less effective against #501YV2 than against the original form of #SARSCoV2 (this mostly pertains to less severe forms of #COVID).
5. Because a small study showed that the AstraZeneca jab only provides 10% protection against mild/moderate #COVID caused by #501YV2, SA decided not to use the jab (we don’t yet know what protection it provides against severe COVID caused by 501Y.V2). bit.ly/38A6vUe
6. Vaccine manufacturers like Moderna, Pfizer + AstraZeneca are now looking at testing if booster shots/adjusted forms of their jabs will work better against new variants. Moderna has already started to test out their booster shot on a group of 60 people. bit.ly/38v8l8Q
7. Recent SA research by @AfricaGenomics revealed something surprising: the antibodies our bodies produce to fight off #501YV2 also provide protection against some other new variants, such as the P.1 variant first identified in Brazil.
8. This could potentially mean that scientists will be able to develop a jab that protects against #501YV2, as well as against some other variants. But we'll only know if this will work once such as jab has been tested in clinical trials. bit.ly/3bvRV2a
9. Meanwhile, it’s NB to keep wearing a mask/social distance/wash your hands. Why? We haven’t nearly vaccinated everyone. The more chances the virus has to make copies of itself (so the faster it spreads), the higher the chances are that it will change + produce new variants.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Mia Malan

Mia Malan Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @miamalan

13 Mar
[Thread] 1. How are we doing with our J&J #Covid Sisonke study vaccinations in provinces? Most vaccinations have happened in Gauteng, KZN and Western Cape. Gender breakdown: 74% of jabs have been given to women #HealthWorkers. Source: @LindaGailBekker @DTHF_SA webinar, 13 March Image
2. Have we seen side effects/adverse events in SA's Sisonke #CovidVaccine study? 2.1% of "vaccinees" have reported minor adverse events, e.g. swelling/redness where they've been injected or mild headaches/body pain. Of those, about 96% have recovered or are busy getting better. Image
3. What side effects should you expect when injected with the Johnson & Johnson #CovidVaccine? Pain/swelling (at the site of injection), chills, tiredness, headaches. Most of these symptoms disappear within two days. Image
Read 4 tweets
2 Mar
[Thread] 1. How long will it take for the J&J #CovidVaccine to be approved for full registration so we can use it for wider roll-out (outside a study setting) and is there a way around it? bit.ly/3r8Wfd2
2. Full registration by @SAHPRA1 for a branded medicine can take up to two years. But for #COVIDVaccines this process has been sped up - all jabs move right to the front of the queue. bit.ly/3r8Wfd2
3. J&J has applied for full registration via a rolling review (a review process where they submitted data throughout the efficacy trial they did, instead of submitting all info at the end of the trial, so it saves time and Sahpra doesn’t have to review all the data at once).
Read 10 tweets
28 Feb
Breaking: #Ramaphosa says SA moves from Alert Level 3 to Alert Level 1 from later this evening once the regulations have been gazetted. Gatherings will be permitted subject so limitations on size.
#Ramaphosa: Religious, social, political and cultural gatherings are allowed. The maximum nr of people at any gathering = 100 for indoor gatherings and 250 for outdoor gatherings.
#Ramaphosa: Nightclubs will remain closed. The sale of alcohol = permitted. But no alcohol can be sold during curfew hours. Masks are still mandatory. Failure to wear a mask remains a criminal offense.
Read 4 tweets
28 Feb
#Ramaphosa: A year after #COVID reached our shores, there are several safe and effective #COVIDVaccines. SA's scientists have led the way internationally with identifying variants.
#Ramaphosa: In the ten days since we launched our #COVID vaccination study/programme more than 60 000 #HealthWorkers have been vaccinated. A news batch of 80 000 J&J jabs arrived in SA yesterday.
#Ramaphosa: The number of #COVID vaccination sites will be expanded this week (for the second batch of 80 000 J&J vaccines) — from 17 to 49. Of the 49 sites, 32 will be at public health facilities and 17 at private health facilities.
Read 5 tweets
27 Feb
[Thread] 1. South Africa's second batch of 80 000 J&J #CovidVaccines landed this morning (Saturday) at OR Tambo. The jabs have been taken to a secure facility in Gauteng from where it will be distributed to vaccine centres in provinces.
2. How many vaccine sites are there? For the 1st round of 80 000 there were 18 (3 in WC, 1 in Northern Cape and 2 in each of the other provinces). The sites will be expanded for the second batch. Here are the sites we had for the first round: tabsoft.co/2NIYV2y
3. Why are we getting small batches of 80 000 J&J jabs at a time instead of the 9 million we've ordered? Because J&J doesn't yet have @SAHPRA1 approval to distribute its jabs for wider roll-out. This morning's batch is part of up 500 000 jabs we're getting for research purposes.
Read 9 tweets
22 Feb
[Thread]. 1. Wondering how many people SA has to vaccinate per day to use up our 80 000 J&J jabs in 14 days? (The next batch of 80 000 will arrive 2 weeks after the 1st). Co-principal investigator of our implementation study @LindaGailBekker says between 6000 + 8000. Here’s why.
2. This morning we had around 65 000 of our first batch of 80 0000 J&J #CovidVaccines left, says @LindaGailBekker. So we vaccinated about 5000 #HealthWorkers on Sunday (on Sunday the health department said we had vaccinated just more than 10 000 workers by the end of Saturday).
3. @LindaGailBekker says the official start date for #COVID vaccination was Thursday, 18 Feb. (The jabs arrived just before midnight on Tuesday, 16 February, and had to be transported across the country to sites, so only a few vaccinations were done on Wednesday, 17 February).
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!