“We have decided to put a temporary hold on the rollout of the vaccine,” Dr. Zweli Mkhize, South Africa’s health minister, said Sunday. “More work needs to be done.”The experimental vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, seemed promising just a few months ago. “The AstraZeneca vaccine was showing tremendous potential,” said Dr. Shabir Madhi, a vaccine expert at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. AdvertisementA COVID-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson reduced the risk of moderate to severe illness by 72% in clinical trial participants in the U.S. (A COVID-19 vaccine being developed by El Segundo-based ImmunityBio, headed by Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, aims to activate T-cells.)

Source: Los Angeles Times February 08, 2021 04:41 UTC