The first patients to participate in South Africa’s first clinical trial for a vaccine against Covid-19 will be vaccinated this week, the University of Witwatersrand announced on Tuesday.
According to Wits, the Ox1Cov-19 Vaccine VIDA-Trial aims to find a vaccine that will prevent infection by SARS-CoV-2, the Coronavirus that causes Covid-19.
Professor Shabir Madhi, Professor in Vaccinology and the Director of the SA Medical Research Council Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit at Wits, said the trial, which is being run at multiple sites in South Africa, is being conducted in collaboration with the University of Oxford and the Oxford Jenner Institute.
“This is a landmark moment for South Africa and Africa at this stage of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
“As we enter winter in South Africa and pressure increases on public hospitals, now more than ever we need a vaccine to prevent infection by Covid-19.
“We began screening participants for the South African Oxford 1 Covid-19 vaccine trial last week and the first participants will be vaccinated this week,” said Madhi.
As of Monday, the country had 101 590 positive cases and 1 991 Covid-19-related deaths, representing nearly a third of all confirmed cases on the African continent.
Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Vice Principal and Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research and Postgraduate Affairs at the Wits University, said: “Without a vaccine against Covid-19, there will likely be ongoing contagion, causing severe illness and death.”