Johannesburg - South Africa will soon start rolling out the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine manufactured in China, following calls for the country to consider vaccines from the East.
Virologist Dr Sanet Aspinall, who is working with the team producing the vaccine, says Sinovac has been rolled out in many countries.
Aspinall said, as of June, about 110 million people worldwide had received two full doses of CoronaVac and 248 million had received one dose of it.
The CoronaVac vaccine has been shown in three phase 3 clinical trials to be 100% effective against severe Covid-19 infection, hospitalisation and death. In a pandemic that is what one wants to prevent.
Aspinall said the vaccine was safe to use and guaranteed its efficacy, as the side effects are minimal and not different from any other conventional inactivated viral vaccine.
“A bit of pain and swelling are experienced at the site of injection. Systemic adverse events include headache and fatigue,” Aspinall said.
CoronaVac’s easy storage requirements (2-8°C) make it relatively manageable and quite suitable for roll-out especially in rural areas of the country, that do not have the minus 80-degree freezers.
The South African Health Products Authority (SAHPRA) had approved most vaccines on the basis that they minimise severe illness and Sinovac was among those that had proven effective, despite the different strands of the coronavirus being detected.
“The vaccine cannot cause the disease in the person receiving the vaccine, and the particles in an inactivated viral vaccine cannot replicate, but maintain integrity to prompt the immune system to respond. Because the virus is still whole or intact, it can stimulate a response from the immune system against multiple antigens and not just against the spike protein of the SARS-COV-2 virus and may therefore be able to prevent breakthrough infections due to mutations more effectively,” said Aspinall.
She said the vaccine was currently recommended in South Africa for adults 18 years and older (up to 59 years) in a two-dose schedule with a spacing of two to four weeks.
“In vitro laboratory studies conducted in China have indicated that the vaccine is effective against various variants including the alpha, beta, delta and gamma variants. The effectiveness is currently being monitored in real-world situations and clinical studies by Sinovac,” the virologist said.
The World Health Organization has recommended vaccination of CoronaVac irrespective of particular variants circulating.
Meanwhile, Acting Minister of Health Mamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, welcomed the approval of the use of Sinovac in the fight against Covid-19.
The Star