Researchers at South African universities are recruiting volunteers for three Covid-19 vaccine trials under way in country.
They are among the 33 vaccine projects across the world acknowledged by the World Health Organisation as viable vaccine candidates in the fight against Covid-19.
The University of Cape Town’s Professor Linda-Gail Bekker, deputy director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at UCT’s Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM), said a Johnson & Johnson product (Ad26.COV2-S) and a Novavax product (NVX-CoV2373) would be subjected to trials in South Africa from this month.
The country’s first vaccine trial (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) is being led by the University of the Witwatersrand’s Professor Shabir Madhi in partnership with Oxford University.
Bekker said: ‘It is very important for South Africa to participate [in vaccine trials] because we can contribute to the global cause, and it helps scientists understand how South Africans will respond to these [vaccine] candidates.
‘It also gives us an opportunity to investigate if there are any safety concerns and, importantly, to claim the vaccines once found to be effective and rolled out. Participation may facilitate vaccines for South Africans.’
Bekker is the national principal investigator of the Johnson & Johnson trial alongside Professor Glenda Gray, president and chief executive of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), and the protocol chairperson of this trial.
Health24 reported that the trial was being executed in association with the UCT Lung Institute (one of several trial sites in the country) under the guidance of Professor Keertan Dheda, head of the Centre for Lung Infection and Immunity at the UCT Lung Institute.
Dheda noted the importance of facilitating ‘vaccine access for South Africans’.
‘Historically, it has taken several years for vaccines to reach Africa. More than that, our participation will also help to mitigate the Covid-19 stigma.’
The Lung Institute is recruiting participants in the Western Cape for the vaccine trials.
Bekker said the Johnson & Johnson trial was currently in phase three. The Novavax and Oxford trials are both in phase two, with phase three trials planned to start within weeks.
‘Typically, phase two involves hundreds of participants and phase three involves thousands.’
In South Africa, positive cases grew yesterday by 1 218 to a cumulative total of 628 259 (with 549 993 recoveries). Deaths rose by 114 to 14 263.
The highest tally of cases is in Gauteng (210 518), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (113 237), the Western Cape (106 114) and the Eastern Cape (86 217).