The Oxford vaccine has been suspended in South Africa

News Desk: South Africa has suspended the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine due to "disappointing" results against a new strain of coronavirus. News from the BBC. Two thousand people participated in the trial in South Africa, and the results showed that the vaccine provided little protection against mild to moderate coronavirus infections.

Scientists say the new strain is responsible for 90 percent of corona infections in South Africa. The country has bought 1 million AstraZeneca vaccines. These were to be implemented from next week.

In an online press conference, South African Health Minister Julie Mkhije said the government would wait for further advice on how to proceed with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in light of the results.

The trial was conducted by the University of the Witwatersrand and the results have not been peer-reviewed. He said the government would provide Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer vaccines in the coming weeks.

The trial was led by Professor Shabir Madhi. "Unfortunately, the estrogen vaccine does not work against mild to moderate illness," he told a news conference. He said it was not possible to investigate whether the vaccine was effective against serious infections.

This is because those who participated in the trial were under the age of 31 and did not represent the population at risk of severe symptoms of the virus. But Professor Sarah Gilbert, Oxford's lead researcher on the vaccine, said the virus would still work against serious illness.

He said researchers in South Africa were working on a modified version of the vaccine against the virus. Experts say more effective vaccines against new strains of the virus could be redesigned within weeks or months if needed.

Earlier, Modern said their vaccine was effective against a new type of corona found in South Africa. And AstraZeneca said their vaccines were effective against new strains found in Britain.