SA suspends use of AstraZeneca vaccine

Global update:

• Global cases have surpassed 106.68 million, while the death toll has surpassed 2.32 million; recoveries are at 78.38 million.
• The US has 27.61 million cases, accounting for 26% of global cases; the death toll is 474,933. 
• US President Joe Biden has warned that the US would be unlikely to have reached herd immunity by autumn.
• India has 10.83 million cases and 155,114 deaths; Brazil 9.52 million cases and 231,561 deaths; Russia 3.96 million cases and 76,661 deaths.
• Thailand has opted out of Covax; South Korea is expected to relax social distancing. 
• Germany is expected to extend its lockdown measures by a further two weeks.
• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that “it is still early days" when it comes to lifting the UK’s strict lockdown rules. The UK is on track to have vaccinated all those over 50 by May.
• More than 131 million doses in 73 countries have been administered, at a rate of 4.69 million doses a day on average.

Africa update:

• Africa’s Covid-19 cases are at 3.68 million; fatalities are at 95,203.
• Morocco has 475,355 reported cases, Nigeria 139,748, Ghana 70,768, Kenya 101,819.
• Africa is expected to get around 30 million vaccines by the end of February. 
• Covax, the global program that strives to ensure equitable access to coronavirus vaccines, has allocated millions of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
• Nigeria is expected to receive 16 million; Ethiopia and the DRC are in line for 9 million and 7 million doses respectively.

South Africa update:

• SA currently has the 15th highest caseload, at 1.476 million; 2,435 new cases were reported yesterday.
• Covid-19 deaths rose by 110 yesterday, to 46,290; 1.36 million people (or 92%) have recovered from the virus.
• Gauteng has the highest number of confirmed cases, at 394,240 (accounting for 26.7% of the total); 8,615 deaths have been reported. 
• The Western Cape has 272,403 (accounting for 18.5% of the total) and 10,608 deaths, while KwaZulu-Natal has 321,043 (accounting for 21.7% of the total) and 9,079 deaths.
• The Eastern Cape has 192,794 cases (accounting for 13.1% of the total) and 10,948 deaths.
• 8.49 million tests have been conducted since 5 March; 26,055 tests were conducted yesterday.
• Vaccine developers have indicated that they are working on a new vaccine to combat the SA variant of the virus. This comes after AstraZeneca noted that its vaccine has limited efficacy against mild disease caused by this particular variant.
• The company has also noted that there isn’t yet enough information from research to show whether its vaccine is effective at preventing severe Covid-19 cases, hospitalization and deaths. SA has announced the suspension of the use of this vaccine; SA will consider resuming use of the vaccine if further studies show that it can protect against more severe cases.
• Prior to these findings, the government had secured millions of additional vaccines to help curb viral spread. Twenty million of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines have been secured, 12 million vaccine doses from the WHO-backed Covax facility, and 9 million J&J shots.
• Pfizer and Moderna have indicated that their vaccines are still protective against the new variant, albeit less effective than against the original strain.
• J&J has indicated that their vaccine has a strong efficacy in preventing severe cases and hospitalisations caused by the new variant. J&J has applied for emergency-use authorisation of the vaccine in SA; health officials have indicated that they would inoculate healthcare workers with the J&J vaccine in the coming weeks.

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