AstraZeneca vaccine - The African Mirror

Jan

2021

Fire at India’s Serum Institute kills 5, AstraZeneca vaccine output unaffected

A big fire at the Serum Institute of India has killed five people, a government official told reporters, but the world's biggest vaccine maker said it would not affect the production of the AstraZeneca coronavirus shot. Videos and pictures from Reuters partner ANI showed black smoke billowing from a multi-storey building in SII's massive headquarters complex in the city of Pune in Maharashtra state. "We have learnt that there has unfortunately been some loss of life at the incident," SII Chief Executive Adar Poonawalla said on Twitter. "We are deeply saddened and offer our deepest condolences to the family members…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa to pay $5.25 a dose

COVID-19

ALEXANDER WINNING SOUTH Africa will pay $5.25 per dose for 1.5 million shots of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII), a senior official said yesterday, more than some wealthier countries are paying. Health department Deputy Director-General Anban Pillay told Reuters that SII's price was based on South Africa's status as an upper-middle-income country under a World Bank classification. The price is higher than the $3 a dose that South Africa and other countries on the continent are due to pay for the same vaccine under an African Union (AU) arrangement, and the 2.5 euros ($3.03) per…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Data on AstraZeneca vaccine and S.African variant should come soon – UK expert

COVID-19

DATA on the highly contagious COVID-19 variant identified in England do not suggest that vaccines will be less effective against it, while data on the South African variant should be available within weeks, a top British vaccines expert has said. "We have the most data on the UK variant. That doesn't suggest that it will be any less well protected against by the vaccine," said Wei Shen Lim, chair of Covid-19 Immunisation on Britain's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. Asked specifically about the South African variant, he said that Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine trials had been conducted in South Africa which…