- South Africa has started clinical trials of China’s Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccine for people aged between six months and 17 years old.
- The cases reported in children in South Africa have been milder and less severe as reported by the project director Sanet Aspinall, but gets transmitted to the rest of the population.
South Africa has started clinical trials of China’s Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccine for people aged between six months and 17 years old . The country has started vaccinating children and adolescents as part of the global phase three trial. The global trial will cover South Africa, Kenya, the Philippines, Chile and Malaysia.
A statement issued by Sinovac, stated that the trials were kicked off at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, in the capital Pretoria on 10th September. The shots were given at six different sites across the country. The study will evaluate the efficacy of two doses of the CoronaVac against confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 cases in children and adolescents, against hospitalization and severe COVID-19 cases it said. The cases reported in children in South Africa have been milder and less severe as reported by the project director Sanet Aspinall, but get transmitted to the rest of the population.
Glenda Gray, the president of the South African Medical Research Council, pointed out that delaying the inclusion of children in the COVID vaccine trials will delay the ability to contain COVID-19.
South Africa has the highest number of COVID 19 cases and accounts for more than 35 percent of COVID-19 infections in Africa. According to official sources, South Africa has vaccinated more than seven million people with either the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.It targets to vaccinate at least 40 million people of its 60 million population by the end of the year,
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