501 V2 News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

AstraZeneca vaccine has just 10% efficacy against SA Covid variant By Marthe Fourcade (Bloomberg) – AstraZeneca’s embattled coronavirus vaccine didn’t offer much protection against mild disease caused by the variant that emerged in South Africa in a study that prompted the country to seek other immunisations last month. The vaccine had an efficacy of just 10% against the variant strain, according to the study published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. There were no instances of severe disease in either the group that received two injections of the vaccine or the one that ...

When identified late last year, medical professionals were concerned that the variant – known as 501.v2 – would drive up Covid-19 infections. Professor Salim Abdool Karim said the strain had a higher viral load, meaning it could spread between people with ease. The infection rate rapidly increased, with President Cyril Ramaphosa reintroducing level 3 lockdown restrictions. As Gabriele Steinhauser of The Wall Street Journal writes, ‘A new coronavirus strain was surging across the country, thousands of holidaymakers were due to return from Covid-19 hot spots, and one in three coronavirus ...

The variant, known as 501.v2 and identified in SA late last year, has taken over as the dominant strain in the nation of 60 million people.

To obtain herd immunity, SA is aiming to vaccinate 67% of the population - 40m people - by the end of 2021, says Veronica Ueckermann.

Moderna produces Covid-19 shot targeting variant discovered in SA The US biotech is preparing for a clinical trial to gauge the effectiveness of the vaccine on 501.V2 strain 25 February 2021 - 19:55 By Hannah Kuchler Moderna has become the first vaccine maker to produce a Covid-19 shot targeted at the virus variant discovered in SA. It will ship the doses to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a clinical trial.  The Boston-based biotech is taking a three-pronged strategy to address concerns that its vaccine, with several others, is less effective against the 501.V2 str...