SA’s negotiations to secure the Sputnik V and Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines are “at an advanced stage” but, even if millions of doses are secured, they may not be the magic bullet needed to ramp up the rollout.
The Ad5 virus used in making the Sputnik vaccine could pose a risk to uncircumcised men who are living with HIV and, so far, no Sinovac results have been published in a medical journal.
Sputnik V has an efficacy rate of 91.6% when two doses are given, according to a study published in The Lancet in February. This dropped to 79.4% when only one dose was given in a “Sputnik Light” study.
SA Health Products Regulatory Authority chair Prof Helen Rees, said on Friday the organization and the ministerial advisory committee on vaccines were reviewing the Sputnik vaccine given a possible concern about Ad5 safety for men living with HIV.
In 2007, an HIV vaccine trial was “stopped early because the vaccine made with Ad5 might have increased the risk of getting HIV among men who were uncircumcised”, she said.