WHO recommends AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine against South Africa strain

The World Health Organization (WHO) is advising countries to continue distributing AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine as they deal with new strains of the coronavirus, including the strain found in South Africa. WHO says it endorsed the guidance of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE). The international group says governments must develop a cohesive approach to monitoring new strains of the coronavirus and gauge how they affect the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. WHO’s recommendation comes despite a small human trial in South Africa finding the vaccine did not prevent mild and moderate cases of COVID-19 in its volunteers, prompting South Africa’s government to pause a planned rollout of the vaccine to health care workers. However, WHO says evidence from other, larger trials, including in Brazil and the United Kingdom, indicates the AstraZeneca/University of Oxford vaccine can protect recipients from severe illness, hospitalizations, and death, including from new coronavirus variants. “Indirect evidence is compatible with protection against severe COVID-19,” WHO said in interim recommendations published Wednesday. “However, this remains to be demonstrated in ongoing clinical trials and post-implementation evaluations.” Joachim Hombach, MD, SAGE’s executive secretary, observed: “The efficacy of this vaccine is higher when the second dose is administered at a later stage.” WHO is recommending that doses of the vaccine be administered 8-12 weeks apart.