Challenges lying ahead with COVID-19 vaccines in South Africa

To engage the voice of science on the many issues circulating regarding the COVID-19 vaccines, Prof Shabir Madhi was invited to give a talk on COVID-19 vaccines ahead of the roll-out thereof in South Africa.

A Member of ASSAf, Prof Madhi is the Dean: Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Executive Director of the Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (VIDA) also at Wits, and the principal investigator in the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine trial in South Africa. 

Prof Madhi’s very topical presentation highlighted the current vaccine development landscape and furthermore addressed the matter around vaccine efficacy and what we have experienced in South Africa.

Prof Wolfgang Preiser participated as the respondent to the talk to provide his analysis. Also a Member of the Academy, Prof Preiser is a medical virologist and is the current Head of the Division of Medical Virology at Stellenbosch University (SU) and NHLS Tygerberg.

The webinar that took place on 15 February 2021 was moderated by the Chair of the ASSAf Standing Committee on Health, Prof Mosa Moshabela, and attracted a diverse audience of some 170 attendees.

The discussions underlined the rapid development and licensing of effective vaccines as a remarkable scientific success.