South Africa, the country which has the highest number of Coronavirus cases in Africa, will start the first coronavirus vaccine trial in Africa this week.
The vaccine is ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and it was developed by the Oxford Jenner Institute. Already, the vaccine is being evaluated in Britain where no fewer than 4,000 people have signed up for the trial.
Plans are in place by South Africa to vaccinate 2,000 people with the vaccine.
While talking about the vaccination during a virtual press conference, Shabir Madhi, a vaccinology Professor in University of Witwatersrand (Wits) said: “We began screening participants for the South African Oxford 1 Covid-19 vaccine trial last week, and the first participants will be vaccinated this week.
“As we enter winter in South Africa and pressure increases on public hospitals, now more than ever we need a vaccine to prevent infection by COVID-19.”
Wits is partnering with the Oxford Jenner Institute and the University of Oxford in respect of the South African trial.
South Africa’s Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize corroborated Madhi’s comments by saying that South Africa is currently going through a “devastating storm” that is expected to peak “during the cold winter months.”
Mkhize said during the opening of a field hospital in the Eastern Cape province that over half of the population of South Africa may be infected with the deadly virus.
He said: “Our scientific estimation is that 60 to 70 percent of our population may be infected by coronavirus” and added that rates of hospitalisation has remained below expectation.
