South Africa has suspended the rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to healthcare staff after a study suggested it was not effective against mild illness caused by the variant discovered there. The plans have now been halted after preliminary research suggested the vaccine offers minimal protection against mild to moderate disease from the mutation. However, researchers still believe the vaccine is effective in preventing severe disease, hospital admissions and deaths, and also works well against the original strain. Read MoreThe small study, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, involved some 2,000 people in South Africa with an average age of 31. Professor Robin Shattock, who is leading Covid-19 vaccine research at Imperial College London, urged caution about the study’s early findings.

Source: Irish Independent February 08, 2021 09:12 UTC