JOHANNESBURG (South Africa) – South Africa’s health ministry said on Tuesday that the makers of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine had submitted documentation to local medicines regulator SAHPRA so as to get registration.
The ministry said it was “continuously engaging” with the manufacturers of the Sputnik V vaccine.
It added that scientists were having a detailed analysis of the vaccine, after concerns arouse about the effects of its Ad5 component on communities where there is a high prevalence of HIV. South Africa has one of the highest HIV burdens globally.
The country is looking forward to start roll out of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine to health workers in a research study this week.
It has stopped the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine due to preliminary data which showed there was minimal protection against mild to moderate illness from the country’s dominant coronavirus variant, 501Y.V2.