This archive report was first published on 26 June 2020.
Published on June 26, 2020, South Africa is taking part in Africa's first human trials aimed at producing a potential vaccine against the novel coronavirus, which continues to surge in the country.
Researchers from Oxford University, in conjunction with South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand, are conducting the trial, which involves monitoring thousands of volunteers between the ages of 18 and 65 who received the vaccination for 12 months to see how well the vaccine guards against COVID-19.
South Africa is the second country outside of Britain to take part in the Oxford trial, following Brazil's launch of its study on Wednesday.
The vaccine, also known as AZD1222, is being developed and produced in collaboration with AstraZeneca.
According to Shabir Madhi, professor in vaccinology at Wits University, this is likely the first of at least three to four other vaccine studies on COVID-19 to be done in South Africa over the next six months.
South Africa, which is gradually relaxing coronavirus lockdown restrictions, has the highest rate of infections in Africa, with over 100,000 cases and more than 2,000 deaths.
