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This global study will recruit 2,000 participants in South Africa, while another 12,000 will participate in Kenya, the Philippines, Chile, and Malaysia.
South Africa has begun to vaccinate children and adolescents as part of a global Phase III clinical trial of China’s Sinochem Biotechnology COVID-19 vaccine, which is suitable for people between 6 months and 17 years of age.
This global study will recruit 2,000 participants in South Africa, and another 12,000 participants will participate in Kenya, the Philippines, Chile, and Malaysia.
Sinovac said in a statement that South Africa’s first children were vaccinated at the Sefako Makgatho University of Health Sciences in the capital Pretoria on Friday to initiate the trial. Other children will be vaccinated at six different locations across the country. .
“The main purpose of the study is to evaluate the efficacy of two doses of CoronaVac on confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 cases in children and adolescents,” it added.
“The efficacy will also be evaluated for hospitalizations and severe COVID-19 cases.”
According to project director Sanet Aspinall, “Children suffer from many milder and less serious diseases, but they are still susceptible.”
She added: “They are…infecting and then they can spread it to other people.”
Glenda Gray, chairman of the South African Medical Research Council, said at an event on Friday that “delaying the inclusion of children in COVID vaccine trials will delay our ability to contain COVID-19.”
US vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna have also conducted pediatric trials of their vaccines, prompting many countries to give the green light to children of different age groups.
The Chinese Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine produced by VACSERA Co was exhibited in Cairo, Egypt [File: Shokry Hussien/Reuters]South Africa accounts for more than 35% of COVID-19 infections in Africa, with 2.8 million confirmed cases and 84,327 deaths.It has been fighting Rejuvenation Drive Caused by the Delta variant of the coronavirus, 6,270 new infections and 175 deaths have been recorded in the past 24 hours.
More than 7 million people have been fully vaccinated with a single injection of Johnson & Johnson or two doses of Pfizer’s BioNTech vaccine.
South Africa is currently providing vaccines to all adults 18 years of age and older, as it seeks to vaccinate at least 40 million of its 60 million population by the end of the year, but it is working towards the goal of vaccinating at least 300,000 people every day.
Although the government has stated that it will not force people to be vaccinated, some companies have stated that they will force their employees to be vaccinated.
Various establishments, such as restaurants and bars, must decide for themselves whether to provide services to customers who have not been vaccinated.
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