[News] Coronavirus vaccine: AstraZeneca seeks to combat mutated strains of the virus

[#Hassan.]

 

 

The study of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine indicates its effectiveness in preventing exposure to severe disease due to infection with the South African strain of the virus.

The British Ministry of Health announced that scientists are working to develop vaccines to confront mutated strains of the Corona virus.

This comes at a time of mounting concerns about the effectiveness of the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford in Britain and AstraZeneca in the face of the mutated strain of the virus that appeared in South Africa, and some cases of infection appeared in the United Kingdom.

The results of a mini-study conducted on 2000 people to test the effectiveness of this vaccine against the mutated strain of the virus circulating in South Africa indicated that the vaccine provided minimal protection in the case of mild infection with Covid-19 disease.

However, Britain's Secretary of State for Health Affairs, Edward Argar, said that there is no evidence that the vaccine is ineffective in preventing exposure to severe disease due to infection with the South African strain of the virus.

And 147 people in the United Kingdom have contracted the mutated strain of Corona virus, which is responsible for about 90 percent of cases of Covid-19 in South Africa
The scientists warned that this strain could spread very quickly, but the strain that was discovered for the first time in the British city of Kent remains the most widespread strain in the United Kingdom.

The minister in charge of vaccinations in Britain, Nazem Zahawi, said that the vaccine used in Britain has proven to be very effective in facing the most widespread strain of the virus in the country.

South Africa has suspended the vaccination campaign with the vaccine developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca, pending any recommendation on the best way to proceed with the vaccination campaign in light of the preliminary results of the study conducted to test its effectiveness.

South Africa received one million doses of AstraZeneca, and it was supposed to start the vaccination campaign next week.

According to scientists in South Africa, the strain, also known as "501. F2", infected about 90 percent of new cases of coronavirus in the country