Africa CDC says Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine OK for other African countries

Agency Report

The Africa CDC today urged African countries outside South Africa to proceed with the rollout of the Oxford- AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

The African Union’s disease control body gave the advice on Thursday.

Director John Nkengasong said countries that have not reported the circulation of the 501Y.V2 coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa, are free to use the vaccine.

For countries that have reported circulation of the 501Y.V2 variant, they should accelerate their preparedness to introduce all vaccines that have received emergency use authorisation, Nkengasong told a news conference.

“Consideration should be given to the effectiveness of the vaccine against the 501Y.V2variant,” Nkengasong said.