South Africa to roll out AstraZeneca vaccine in steps to assess effectiveness

FILE PHOTO: A vial of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is seen at the Lochee Health Centre in Dundee, Scotland, Britain January 4, 2021. Andy Buchanan/Pool via REUTERS//File Photo

GENEVA (Reuters) – South Africa will roll out the AstraZeneca vaccine in a “stepped manner” to assess its effectiveness in preventing severe illness, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, the co-chair of South Africa’s Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19, said on Monday.

Karim said South Africa would pause the rollout while determining how to roll it out, and could vaccinate 100,000 people with the shot to see how well it worked on preventing hospitalisations and deaths.

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