Pune: South Africa has reportedly asked the Serum Institute of India to take back one million COVID-19 vaccine doses it had received in early February.
The country is putting on hold the AstraZeneca vaccine on the ground that a trial carried out in the country shows that the vaccine offers minimal protection against mild to moderate illness from the 501Y.V2 coronavirus variant dominant in South Africa.
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The country is yet to launch a COVID-19 vaccination program and is currently testing Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine as an “implementation study”.
