Government urges public to trust AstraZeneca Covid vaccine amid South African variant fears

Leah Sinclair8 February 2021

The public can have confidence in the Oxford jab despite concerns around its effectiveness against the South Africa variant of coronavirus, the vaccines minister has said.

A new study suggests two doses of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca jab offers “minimal protection” against mild and moderate infection of the South African variant.

The study involved 2,000 volunteers who were an average of 31-years-old.

Viral neutralisation against the B.1.351 variant was "substantially reduced" when compared to the earlier coronavirus strain, researchers said in a news release.

South Africa, which received one million doses of the jab last week, announced it had suspended the rollout of the British-designed vaccine to healthcare staff following the results, which have yet to be peer-reviewed.

However, Nadhim Zahawi has said we should “bear in mind” that the current vaccines being rolled out now work against the most dominant Covid-19 strains in the UK.

“We should bear in mind that recent studies show the vaccines being deployed right now across the UK appear to work well against the Covid-19 variants currently dominant in the UK,” he wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

“In terms of other variants, not in the UK, we need to be aware that even where a vaccine has reduced efficacy in preventing infection there may still be good efficacy against severe disease, hospitalisation, and death. This is vitally important for protecting the healthcare system.”

He added that a tweaked version of the vaccine is in the works to further protection against new variants.

Mr Zahawi comments were echoed by health minister Edward Argar who said the “dominant strains in this country are not the South African strain”, with “only a small number of cases of that”.

“The latest figures I have, which may be a day or so out, is 147 cases in this country," Mr Argar told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

“So it’s still very much not the dominant strain here, the dominant strain here is very much the historic one, the one we’ve been dealing with since last year, and to a large degree the so-called Kent variant.”

On Saturday, AstraZeneca said its vaccine provided good protection against the Kent variant.

Mr Argar continued in an interview with Sky News that “there is no evidence that this vaccine is not effective in preventing hospitalisation, severe illness and death, which is ultimately what we’re seeking with these vaccines.”

He added that South Africa’s suspension of the rollout of the vaccine is only “temporary” at this stage.

In a news conference on Sunday, Professor Shabir Madhi, who led trials for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in South Africa, said the study had been "largely disappointing" in terms of the jab's efficacy against the South Africa variant.

"Unfortunately, the AstraZeneca vaccine does not work against mild and moderate illness,” he said.

"These findings recalibrate thinking about how to approach the pandemic virus and shift the focus from the goal of herd immunity against transmission to the protection of all at-risk individuals in population against severe disease".

Following the study, The Government is reportedly looking into whether a third "booster" jab will be required in the autumn to combat variants.

Researchers working on a new vaccine designed to combat the South African variant have said they are hopeful it will be ready to administer by the autumn.

Oxford vaccine lead researcher Professor Sarah Gilbert told the BBC her team currently has “a version with the South African spike sequence in the works”.

“It’s not quite ready to vaccinate people with yet, but as all of the developers are using platform technologies, these are ways of making a vaccine that are very quick to adapt," she said.

“This year we expect to show that the new version of the vaccine will generate antibodies that recognise the new variant. Then it will be very much like working on flu vaccines.

“It looks very much like it will be available for the autumn.”

Meanwhile, a Whitehall source has revealed to the Daily Mail that Illegal immigrants will be granted an 'amnesty' to come forward for Covid jabs.

The unprecedented move is being made in a bid to help Britain reach herd immunity and hasten the easing of lockdown.

'The moral in this is that everyone needs to get the jab, for everyone's safety,' the source said.

Officials insist that illegal migrants will not be able to jump the queue for vaccines and this only means that the Home Office will take no action if they register with a GP to be inoculated. 

"Coronavirus vaccines will be offered to everyone living in the UK free of charge, regardless of immigration status,' a Government spokesman said last night.

“Those registered with a GP are being contacted at the earliest opportunity and we are working closely with partners and external organisations to contact those who are not registered with a GP to ensure they are also offered the vaccine".

Over 12 million people in the UK have so far received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, with nearly 550,000 first jabs given out on Saturday.

Based on recent figures, an average of 373,214 first doses of vaccine would be needed each day in order to meet the Government’s target of 15 million first doses by February 15.

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