South Africa, the country with the highest Coronavirus cases in Africa, will roll out the first African coronavirus vaccine trial in this week.
The vaccine, known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, was developed by the Oxford Jenner Institute and is already being evaluated in Britain, where 4,000 participants have volunteered and signed up for the trial. South Africa has set out to vaccinate 2,000 people with the vaccine,50 of the which have HIV.
Shabir Madhi, vaccinology professor in University of Witwatersrand (Wits) in a virtual press conference said,
“We began screening participants for the South African Oxford 1 Covid-19 vaccine trial last week, and the first participants will be vaccinated this week,”
Wits is collaborating with the University of Oxford and the Oxford Jenner Institute on the South African trial.
South Africa’s coronavirus cases has been on spike so far, it moved to more than 100,000 on Monday, while the number of deaths inched towards 2,000. Over 3,500 doctors and nurses have contracted COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, and at least 34 have succumbed to the respiratory disease.
However, the confinement measures and strict nationwide lockdown which started on March 27 are being gradually phased out, to allow business to pick up and reduce damage to an already ailing economy.
“As we enter winter in South Africa and pressure increases on public hospitals, now more than ever we need a vaccine to prevent infection by COVID-19,” Madhi said, describing the vaccine trial as a “landmark moment”.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize echoed Madhi’s concerns, warning that South Africa was going through a “devastating storm” expected to peak “during the cold winter months”.
At the opening of a field hospital in the Eastern Cape province, Mkhize said more than half of South Africa’s population may be infected with the deadly virus.
“Our scientific estimation is that 60 to 70 percent of our population may be infected by coronavirus,” the minister said at the launch on Tuesday, adding that hospitalisation rates remained lower than anticipated.
While South Africa prepares for its coronavirus vaccination trial, health officials have also pegged high hopes on dexamethasone, a generic anti-inflammatory drug found to reduce mortality among ventilated patients.
“We are especially at an advantage as we are a country that is very familiar with dexamethasone,” Mkhize said, noting that three South African companies supplied the steroid.
“I must stress that dexamethasone does not mean you can abandon the basic behavioural rules for COVID-19. ”
“You still have to wear masks, wash your hands and keep a social distance.”
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