BAKKACIMA BLOG

  Dr Amir Khan said he's  been vaccinating patients against COVID-19 for the best part of three months now. Some have questions about the vaccine, which I am, of course, more than happy to answer, but ultimately the vast majority say they feel lucky to be offered it,  Dr Amir Khan said. According to Dr. Amir, there seems to be a slightly more sinister pattern emerging; when we call patients to book them in, some are saying they do not want to be vaccinated because they know someone who suffered side effects. In an Australian  study  examining concerns about the COVID vaccine, 10 percent of people surveyed cited “potential side effects” as a reason not to have it. It is not the first time

  COVID-19 vaccines made by  Johnson & Johnson(J&J) and Novavax  have also been shown to offer weaker protection against B.1.351 (also known as 501.V2), the SARS-CoV-2 variant that now causes the vast majority of all infections in South Africa, than against older variants. The vaccines’ efficacy against mild disease in South Africa was 57% for J&J and 49% for Novavax—lower than in any other country they were tested. The stakes are high globally for this particular vaccine because its makers, AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, hope it will be widely used in developing countries; they project they can produce 3 billion doses this year for about $3 each, far more product at a far lower price than any other vaccine shown to offer protection against COVID-19. Madhi and the research team had planned to report the results on 8 February, but the  Financial Times  ran a story two days earlier based on a leaked copy of the findings. Madhi and his co-workers have submitted a p