WHO urges African nations to participate in Covid-19 vaccine trials

The World Health Organisation (WHO) in Africa has urged the continent to participate in Covid-19 vaccine trials, saying it was vital these products were tested in the countries that needed them to ensure they were effective.

A vaccine is widely regarded as the best way to halt the spread of the highly infectious disease, which has raced around the world since it first emerged in China in December. By Wednesday, SA had confirmed close to 530,000 cases, accounting for more than half of Africa’s tally.

There are nearly 150 candidate Covid-19 vaccines in development, of which 19 are in clinical trials, but South Africa is the only African country currently participating in this research. Wits university is leading the South African arm of an international clinical trial testing a vaccine developed by the Oxford Jenner Institute.

The SA Ox1Cov-19 Vaccine VIDA-Trial is expected to enrol 2,000 volunteers, including some living with HIV, and will complement trials of the candidate vaccine that are already under way in the UK and Brazil.

 “We strongly encourage member states to be involved so we have the opportunity to see how these tools work in African populations,” WHO regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said on Thursday.

The WHO was extremely concerned about the negative sentiment expressed in some African countries about participating in vaccine trials, she said.

Not only did participating in vaccine trials provide crucial information about how different populations responded to the shots, but it also guaranteed access to the final products should they prove safe and effective, she said.

“In the early stage of the pandemic there were some discussions implying African people were to be used as guinea pigs for the development of vaccines, and ... because of cost issues would not be able to benefit.

She said this was false  information.

“There are very strict rules under which these trials get conducted, and countries that have been involved have the right to access to these tools.”

South Africa does not have a large antivaccine lobby, but a small group of antivaccine protesters demonstrated outside Wits university when it launched the Ox1Cov-19 trial in June, claiming the experimental shots were going to be tested on people who did not understand the risks.

Moeti reiterated the WHO’s call for global solidarity and equity in access to vaccines, warning that rich countries that secured stocks ahead of poorer nations would remain vulnerable to the disease if large parts of the world remained unprotected.