South Africa received one million AstraZeneca doses last week and had hoped to start vaccinating health workers soon but results that are yet to be peer-reviewed show minimal protection against mild or moderate infection from the B.1.351 variant.
World Health Organization and its partners in COVAX, the Gavi vaccine alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, are “working non-stop to start vaccination early next year,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.