SA’s first Covid-19 vaccine trial to start tomorrow
South Africa’s first vaccine trial, aimed at combating the infection that causes Covid-19, is set to start in Gauteng on Wednesday.
The trial comes in the same week as the country exceeding 100 000 infections.
Close to 2000 deaths have been recorded.
Wits University Professor in Vaccinology Shamir Madhi says the first subject will be enrolled on Wednesday.
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“We are anticipating the first subject tomorrow and that will be done in Gauteng. We are wanting to enrol 2000 subjects in a short period of about two months.”
“There are approximately 115 vaccines that are in the clinical phase globally with six vaccines in human trials. One of the six vaccines will be used in South Africa.
“One of the things that we are hoping to achieve with this vaccine is herd immunity. If we can get at least 60% of the population to develop immunity by vaccination, you can reduce the risk of those individuals who are not able to get an adequate response to the vaccine.”
South Africa is not the only country taking part in the trials.
Brazil will register 5000 participants for the vaccine, while the United Kingdom has registered 7000 participants and the United States 10 000.
Globally, more than 9 million people have been infected with Covid-19 with the total number of deaths edging towards the half a million mark.