Kathmandu. February 11. On Sunday, South Africa suspended the rollout of the AstraZeneca Vaccine, after the initial trials in about 2,000 people showed disappointing results against the new “501Y.V2” variant of the Covid-19 virus. 

Disappointed with the performance of Oxford’s vaccine delivered by the Serum Institute of India, Health minister Zweli Mkhize announced that the government will switch to vaccines produced by Johnson & Johnson(J & J).

Media reports claim that the government is applying an unorthodox strategy to inoculate health workers with the J & J vaccine, which is not approved by any country. Mkhize announced that the  J & J vaccine has been proven effective against the 501Y.V2 variant.

A clinical study showed it was 57% effective against the infection caused by the new variant and provides better protection with 85% efficacy after 28 days.

Dr Kerrin Begg, a public medicine specialist at the University of Cape Town said that 90% of the current infections in South Africa is caused by the new variant. 

Officials are worried about the Astrazeneca vaccine that is set to expire at the end of April. Mkhize said that the vaccines can be swapped with other countries which are invaded with the original variant of the virus. 

Earlier in December, South Africa had ordered 1.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from India. The first shipment of 1 million quills arrived last week. After the inspection of the shipment, President Cyril Rampahosa had instructed the authorities to carry out an efficacy test of the vaccine before being supplied to the health institutions.

The South African government is preparing for a vaccination campaign to inoculate 40 million people, 67% of the country’s total population by 2021. The campaign was previously scheduled to begin in mid-February would inoculate 1.25 million health workers in the first phase.

Fearing the theft, the government decided to store the imported vaccines in a highly secured central secret place from where the consignment shall pass to various hospitals, clinics and pharmacies. Last month, the official spokesperson of the Health Ministry Popo Maja said “The vaccines are a highly-rated commodity once they’re stolen and reach the black market. So, we may not even disclose where it is being centrally stored.”

South Africa has been largely affected by the pandemic. More than 14 lakhs viral cases and 46 thousand deaths have been reported so far.