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VACCINE ROLLOUT FATE TODAY

09/02/2021 01:11:00 BY PHUMELELE MKHONTA

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MBABANE - Government will know today of a way forward regarding the rollout of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine enrolment in the country.

Following new studies which revealed that the said vaccine could be less effective on the new South African COVID-19 variant, Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi said there would be a World Health Organisation-led meeting with COVAX and the ministry to discuss the new findings against the country’s rollout plan.

Nkosi said this yesterday in a telephonic interview, while explaining that the new information had compelled a meeting to discuss the new findings extensively.

The minister explicitly explained that no plans had been made to change the rollout plan as yet.

Meeting

“There will be a WHO-led meeting tomorrow (today), to extensively discuss the findings. Just because it can be labelled as less effective, it does not mean it is not effective at all. The COVAX team will join us in the meeting because they were the entity that was responsible for rolling out the Oxford AstraZeneca to us (Eswatini),” said Nkosi.

When asked if the new findings would change the timelines, Nkosi said she did not believe so because the country was not only getting ready to administer the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine but others too.

“The country has also been preparing to secure the Johnson&Johnson and Pfizer BioNTech vaccines. The Johnson&Johnson -20 degrees Celsius refrigerator is now in the country and the -70 degrees Celsius Pfizer BioNTech refrigerator will soon be in the country,” said Nkosi.

The minister highlighted that an extensive research by the country on the new findings would determine if the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine would continue to be utilised by the country as planned.

“Worth noting is that there are other vaccines that are still way less effective than the AstraZeneca vaccine, but are still being administered in some countries. The AstraZeneca is between 60 and 90 per cent effective and that is a fair rate,” said the minister.

She, again, said the extensive meetings with the WHO and the COVAX team would determine the use of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine in the country.

In the meantime, the developing information on the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has kept the Ministry of Health on its toes.

The development and administration of COVID-19 vaccines has been met with new information almost daily and last Sunday, new information was gathered that the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine could be less effective to the new South African COVID-19 variant.

The new information, which has set doubt on people who were excited about the coming of the said vaccine in the county, has kept the ministry working around the clock.

The ministry, according to Director of Health Services Dr Vusi Magagula, was currently trying to assess if the new findings would determine any changes on the country’s plans to have the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the kingdom by end of February.

Samples

Dr Magagula said the Ministry of Health recently sent some samples to determine the variant of COVID-19 the country had and if the South African COVID-19 variant had spread to the kingdom.

“We are watching everything closely, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, the studies that are ongoing with regard to COVID-19. We have also sent some samples to Pretoria in South Africa to assess the kind of variant that the country has so we can determine our choice of COVID-19 vaccines,” said Dr Magagula.

However, Dr Magagula also said, currently, nothing had changed with regard to the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine coming to the country, stating that any changes would be determined by the ongoing studies.

WHO Health Promotion Officer Dr Kevin Makadzange said the new information about Oxford AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine could change the country’s guidelines with regard to the rolling out of COVID-19 vaccines in the country.

“We cannot turn a blind eye on the fact that Eswatini has a very close proximity (to SA) and such new information should come with vigilance on our side.

“The South African variant has already been found in Botswana and Mozambique and a lot of information is coming in with regard to this. If there is any evidence that the variant is in the country, guidelines might have to be changed,” said Dr Makadzange.

Information

He said if there would be more compelling information with the new information about the less effectiveness of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to the South African COVID-19 variant, the country would have to change the vaccine candidate (brand).

Dr Makadzange said there were ongoing studies to determine if the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine would be listed under the ‘WHO Emergency Use Listing’.

“Currently, the only vaccine that has been listed is the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The emerging information regarding the Oxford AstraZeneca might slow down the listing process,” said Dr Makadzange.

Explaining the ‘WHO Emergency Use Listing’, He said it was a list of medication that was approved for emergency use, like in pandemics.

Findings

“People should know that these vaccines have not been permanently validated because there are new findings that come up every day. We have put our ears on the ground to learn everything that comes up with COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines,” said the WHO health promotion officer.

Dr Makadzange said the country (Eswatini) was still waiting for the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to be enlisted in mid-February, before bringing it into the country.

In the meantime, South Africa has put on hold its plans to enrol the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines which arrived last week.

According to South African media, the country has opened up to procuring the Johnson&Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.