WHO says don’t dismiss AstraZeneca shot after South Africa delays jabs; WHO investigators to brief media from Wuhan at 4pm local time; Russia official death toll half of figure listed by state statistics agency
- Oxford vaccine ‘10% effective against South African variant’
- Disease experts warn of surge in deaths from variants as US lags in tracking
- How can Covid vaccines be tweaked to tackle new variants?
- South Africa scrambles for new strategy after AstraZeneca vaccine blow
- See all our coronavirus coverage
The World Health Organization insisted Monday that the AstraZeneca vaccine was still a vital tool in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, after South Africa delayed the start of its inoculation programme over concerns about its efficacy against a virus variant, AFP reports.
“It is vastly too early to be dismissing this vaccine,” said Richard Hatchett, who heads the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which co-leads the Covax vaccine facility with the WHO and Gavi after the AstraZeneca shot ran into a number of setbacks, including questions about its efficacy for over-65s.
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next few hours, as the World Health Organization warns that the AstraZeneca vaccine is still a vital tool in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, after South Africa delayed the start of its inoculation programme over concerns about its efficacy against a virus variant.
