Published 17:38 IST, August 13th 2020

South Africa: 12,000 residents to participate in two new COVID-19 vaccine trials

South Africa, which is nearing six lakh COVID-19 cases, has announced that it would be participating in two more vaccine trials , starting next month.

World News
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South Africa: 12,000 residents to participate in two new COVID-19 vaccine trials

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South Africa, which is nearing six lakh COVID-19 cases, has announced that it would be participating in two more vaccine trials. Both the trials are undertaken by two leading pharma companies-Johnsons & Johnsons and Novavax, are set to begin next month. Revealing further details, Dr Glends Gray, president and CEO of South African Medical research revealed over 12,000 African would be participating in J&J’s Ad26.COV2-S and Novavax’s NVX CoV2373 vaccine trial.

First vaccine trial

Vaccine trials in the country started in June this year after Oxford University initiated the Ox1Cov-19 vaccine VIDA trial in the country. It was led by Dr Shabir Madhi, an ace professor in Vaccinology. All the new trials are a part of 26 vaccine trials which are identified by WHO as the most viable vaccine candidates to have clinical trials amongst 139 that are being tested in labs or on animals.

Read: Germany: Health Minister Optimistic Of Having COVID-19 Vaccine In Coming Months

12,000 volunteers

For the trial,12,000 volunteers would be vaccinated at 30 sites across the country. Along with the African residents, 60,000 people in the US, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Peru would also participate in the trials. As for the African candidates, the efficiency and safety of the candidate vaccine would be tested in healthy adults aged 18 and older.

Read: Argentina, Mexico To Produce AstraZeneca Coronavirus Vaccine For Latin America

While HIV patients would be included in the trial, a pregnant woman won’t be. “Initially, we won't include people with comorbidities (such as diabetes), but as we get more data, they will be included," Dr Gray said. She also said that it would take longer than a year to get results, adding that most of the vaccines nearly four years to get approvals.

"We know a lot about this pathogen already and its use in making vaccines. The Ad26 backbone has been used for Ebola, Zika and HIV. So we know what it looks like," Gray added.

With inputs from PTI