South Africa scrambles for new Covid strategy after AstraZeneca vaccine blow

Confidence in the government's handling of the pandemic takes another hit

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South Africa is scrambling to find a new strategy to fight Covid-19 after suspending vaccinations using the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab just one week after the country received its first 1m doses.

Preliminary data indicated the jab had only 10% efficacy in preventing mild or moderate infections by the new variant now dominant in the country, which has suffered more than 46,000 Covid deaths so far according to official figures, and many more according to excess mortality data.