Cape Town – The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) says it has received documentation for the CoronaVac vaccine developed by Sinovac, and will commence with assessing its efficacy.
Chief executive Dr Boitumelo Semete said Sahpra received documentation for the Coronavac developed by Sinovac on March 10.
“Sahpra will now commence with evaluating the data in assessing the efficacy of the vaccine,” Semete said.
CoronaVac is an inactivated virus Covid-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech in Beijing, China, with clinical trials reported in Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, the Philippines and Turkey.
By Saturday, the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases countrywide was 1 528 414. The total number of deaths stood at 51 261.
More than 145 540 healthcare workers have been vaccinated under the Sisonke Protocol.
According to the province’s Covid-19 data dashboard, by midday yesterday, a total of 277 488 Covid-19 infections and 11 345 deaths were recorded.
At the latest WHO Covid-19 briefing on Friday, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said they were aware that some countries had suspended the use of AstraZeneca vaccines based on reports of blood clots in some people who received doses of the vaccine from two batches.
“This measure was taken as a precaution while a full investigation is finalised. It is important to note that the European Medicines Agency has said there is no indication of a link between the vaccine and blood clots, and that the vaccine can continue to be used while its investigation is ongoing.
“WHO’s Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety systematically reviews safety signals, and is carefully assessing the current reports on the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Ghebreyesus said.
More than 335 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered globally so far, and no deaths have been found to have been caused by Covid-19 vaccines.
On Friday the WHO also gave emergency use listing to Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, making it the fourth vaccine to receive WHO’s approval to be procured and rolled out by COVAX.
“Manufacturing any vaccine requires a lot of supplies, including glass vials and plastic filters, and the raw materials needed to make them.
“The sudden increase in demand for vaccine production has led to a shortage of these and other supplies, which is limiting the production of vaccines for Covid-19 and could put the supply of routine childhood vaccines at risk.
“We call on all countries not to stockpile supplies that are needed urgently to ramp up production of vaccines,” Ghebreyesus said.
Cape Times