AstraZeneca vaccines are reaching communities amid doubts about their effectiveness

The first 196,800 doses of the vaccine from AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford reached nearly all communities throughout Monday morning. However, the start of the vaccination campaign for the third formula marketed in Spain after those of Pfizer and Moderna, was cooler than the previous two occasions. Controversy over the lack of data on the effectiveness of this preventive treatment among the elderly and the Spanish health authorities ’decision to veto its use for people over the age of 55 have now joined Doubts about efficacy against one of the new strains of the virus most contagious, South Africa.

Hours before the start of the autonomy in distributing AstraZeneca vials between the regional vaccination centers, The South African government has announced that it will suspend the mass vaccination of this preventive treatment After publishing a study, it was revealed that the formula provides minimal protection against Mild to moderate infections Due to the predominant type of Coronavirus in the country, although it appears to operate in the most severe cases

South Africa’s vaccination plan, which will replace Oxford vials with vaccines from Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, It plans to start administering AstraZeneca injection to healthcare workers soonAfter receiving one million doses on Monday, it was produced by the Serum Institute of India.

Specifically, experts from the Ministry of Health and Communities agreed last week, as did South Africa, Exclusive use of AstraZeneca flasks for healthcare professionals, In this case, for health workers who are active, but not on the front lines of the Coronovarius are fighting, as are dentists. This is as long as they are under 55 and have no pre-existing illnesses, because the lab has not tested their formula in people with health problems as well.

However, some societies remain very cautious about this compound. The region of Murcia announced this You will not start using the AstraZeneca vaccine Until the Ministry of Health updates the protocol. For its part, Catalonia announced that it would use shady roads to fortify police and firefighters.

Spain has been one of the countries most restricting the AstraZeneca vaccine. France, Germany, Poland, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Greece and Portugal this Monday They have imposed age limits, in most cases, 65 years, for injecting this company’s compound.

Only two cases

The suspension of vaccination with AstraZeneca in South Africa, according to health officials consulted by this newspaper, will not change, at least for now, the vaccination plan that was already revised last week, given that health expects to use a large portion of the 1,810,575 vaccine doses. AstraZeneca who will arrive in February to vaccinate the elderly. In the department managed by Carolina Daria It is reported that until today only two cases of the South African strain have been discovered in Spain, in Galicia and Catalonia.

In the UK, they have also resorted to the fact that the South African variant is in a minority in Great Britain and that, in any event, AstraZeneca appears to be effective in more severe cases. “There is no evidence that this vaccine is ineffective in preventing hospitalization, severe disease and death. In the end, that is what we are looking for today with these vaccines, ”explained Deputy Health Minister Edward Argar. With nearly identical arguments, the Australian government reassured its citizens.“ There is no evidence of decreased effectiveness of the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccines in preventing severe disease and death. “This is the primary mission of protecting health,” said Health Minister Greg Hunt.

However, AstraZeneca announced that it is already working on a new vaccine that is effective against the South African strain and could be ready in the fall.. “The technology is easy to adapt. This year we want to show that the new version of the vaccine generates antibodies that recognize the new form. It would be like working on a flu vaccine,” said Sarah Gilbert, director of the pharmaceutical vaccination program, on the BBC.

Pfizer data

Meanwhile, Pfizer and BioNTech Data from “ in vitro ” studies confirming that the serum of vaccinated subjects neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 with the main mutations found in variants in the UK and South Africa, announced in the scientific journal Nature Medicine.