COVID-19: Boris Johnson 'very confident' about all vaccines as South Africa halts Oxford rollout
The prime minister says he has no doubt that "vaccines generally are going to offer the way out" of lockdown.
Monday 8 February 2021 14:27, UK
Boris Johnson has said the British government is "very confident" about all of the vaccines being used, despite South Africa highlighting findings which suggest the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine may offer limited protection against mild disease caused by the COVID-19 variant discovered there.
More than 12 million people have been vaccinated in the UK so far, and Mr Johnson said "all of the vaccines are effective in protecting against death and serious illness".
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"We also think, in particular in the case of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, that there's good evidence it's stopping transmission as well - I think 67% reduction in transmission with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine," the prime minister said during a visit to a coronavirus test manufacturing facility in Derby.
He added he has "no doubt that vaccines generally are going to offer the way out".
"With every day that goes by, you can see that medicine is slowly getting the upper hand over the disease."
Meanwhile a new study has found that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is effective against the South Africa variant.
In a US study of 20 vaccine recipients, researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston found that the vaccine neutralises the virus with the mutation.
Scientists have suggested that an Oxford/AstraZeneca booster against the South Africa variant could come as soon as this autumn which would be a third dose of the vaccine.
Data showed the AstraZeneca vaccine reduced mild-to-moderate COVID-19 by just 22% in a trial conducted by the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The South African government had been intending to give the AstraZeneca jab to healthcare workers, after receiving a million doses produced by the Serum Institute of India last week.
Instead, it will offer those workers alternative vaccines from Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, scientists will consider how the AstraZeneca shot can be deployed.
South Africa's health minister Zweli Mkhize said in an online briefing: "The AstraZeneca vaccine will remain with us, up until the scientists give us clear indications as to what we need to do."
Mr Mkhize said the variant is currently accounting for more than 90% of coronavirus cases in South Africa.
A testing blitz in England is aiming to find "every single case" of the mutation, after examples were found which appeared to have no links to international travel.
Scientists behind the AstraZeneca jab hope to have a modified version ready by the autumn that will cope with the variant.
Professor Sarah Gilbert told the BBC: "We have a version with the South African spike sequence in the works."
Speaking to Sky News, health minister Edward Argar stressed that the South Africa variant is not dominant in the UK.
Testing shows that 147 people have been infected with it so far in the UK. This is a small rise since the surge testing began in a number of postcodes last week.
Mr Argar said the "small study" of the Oxford jab in South Africa - of 2,000 people with an average age of 31 - was not yet peer-reviewed but that it was "still important we look at it".
"It's important to remember that what South Africa have done is a temporary measure while they look at more information on this," he said.
He added that there is "no evidence that this vaccine is not effective at preventing hospitalisations, severe illness and death".
On Sunday, UK vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said annual vaccines or a "booster in the autumn" for people in the UK could be required to combat the COVID-19 variants.
The vaccines minister told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "I was speaking to (deputy chief medical officer) Jonathan Van-Tam this morning. We see very much probably an annual or booster in the autumn and then an annual (jab), in the way we do with flu vaccinations where you look at what variant of virus is spreading around the world, rapidly produce a variant of vaccine and then begin to vaccinate and protect the nation."
He urged people not to lose confidence in the efficacy of the AstraZeneca jab in the wake of the South African study.
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Professor Shabir Madhi, who led trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine in South Africa, told Sky News it was likely the jab would still be used there, stressing that the findings are for mild infection only.
Noting that the technologies used to develop the AstraZeneca and J&J jabs are similar, he said: "The J&J vaccine in South Africa against the variant has been shown to reduce moderate to severe disease by 57%, and severe disease by as much as 89%.
"So I think there might still well be a role for the AZ vaccine, at least in terms of protecting against severe disease."
Earlier, a spokesman for AstraZeneca said: "Early data has shown limited efficacy against mild disease primarily due to the B.1.351 South African variant.
"We do believe our vaccine could protect against severe disease, as neutralising antibody activity is equivalent to that of other COVID-19 vaccines that have demonstrated activity against more severe disease, particularly when the dosing interval is optimised to 8-12 weeks."
Over three nights Sky News will host a series of special programmes examining the UK's response to the pandemic.
Watch COVID Crisis: Learning the Lessons at 8pm on 9, 10 and 11 February