The Associated Press has reported that South Africa has become the first African country to administer the trial version of the Coronavirus vaccine.
According to the paper, South African volunteers received injections developed at the University of Oxford in Britain on Wednesday.
Shabir Madhi, Professor of Vaccinology at Wits University and Director of the South Africa Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (VIDA), leads the South African Ox1Cov-19 Vaccine VIDA-Trial.
The South African Medical Research Council said the trial aims to find a vaccine that will prevent infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Vice Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Postgraduate Affairs at the Wits University, was recently quoted by the media saying, “Wits University identified vaccinology as a key institutional flagship project in 2016. Vaccines are amongst the most powerful tools to mitigate life-threatening diseases. Without a vaccine against Covid-19, there will likely be ongoing contagion, causing severe illness and death. Wits is committed to developing a vaccine to save lives in collaboration with the University of Oxford.”
