ICYMI: Wits University to test Covid-19 vaccines

Wits University announces the first clinical trial for a Covid-19 vaccine.

Wits University hosted a virtual press conference on 23 June to announce that the first participants in South Africa’s first clinical trial for a vaccine against Covid-19 will be vaccinated this week. In a statement released by the university, it stated that the South African Ox1Cov-19 Vaccine VIDA-Trial aims to find a vaccine that will prevent infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid 19. Wits University is collaborating with the University of Oxford and the Oxford Jenner Institute on the South African trial with 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) leading the efforts.

Madhi expressed, “This is a landmark moment for South Africa and Africa at this stage of the Covid-19 pandemic. As we enter winter in South Africa and pressure increases on public hospitals, now more than ever we need a vaccine to prevent infection by Covid 19.”  Prior to launch, the South African study was subject to rigorous review and has been approved by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) and the Human Research Ethics Committee of Wits.

The vaccine is already being evaluated in a large clinical trial in the UK where more than 4 000 participants have already been enrolled. Professor Helen Rees, chair of SAHPRA and executive director of the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI) shared the importance of having as many countries involved in the process as possible.  She explained, “This allows evaluation of the efficacy and safety of candidate vaccines to be assessed in a global context, failing which the introduction of many life-saving vaccines into public immunisation programmes for low-middle income countries frequently lags behind those in high-income countries.”