The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom on Monday urged coronavirus vaccine manufacturers to quickly adjust the vaccines to factor in the new strains of the virus, reported CGTN Africa.
Tedros made the remarks during a media briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic when he pointed out South Africa’s decision to suspend the rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine after a study showed the vaccine was minimally effective at preventing mild to moderate disease caused by a new virus variant first identified in the country.
“It also seems increasingly clear that manufacturers will have to adjust to the evolution of the virus, taking into account the latest variants for future shots, including boosters,” said the WHO chief. “We know viruses mutate and we know we have to be ready to adapt vaccines so they remain effective. This is what happens with flu vaccines, which are updated twice a year to match the dominant strains.”
Tedros called on the countries to continue reporting the emerging variants of the coronavirus if any to WHO in order to help coordinate global efforts to monitor their impact.
He also stressed the need for scaling up of manufacture and rollout of vaccines to protect as many as people possible before they are exposed to new variants.
In related news, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent crossed 3,667,546 as of Monday. The death toll related to the pandemic in Africa stood at 95,075, while a total of 3,192,561 people infected with COVID-19 have recovered from the deadly virus.
Southern Africa is the most affected region in terms of the number of confirmed positive cases, followed by the northern Africa region.
South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, and Ethiopia are among the most affected African countries in terms of the number of positive cases.
South Africa reported the highest number of COVID-19 deaths at 46,290 as of Monday.
