Vaccines in SA are effective against the now-dominant Delta variant

Acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi and a panel of experts held a media briefing on Friday to address the progress of government efforts in the fight against Covid-19 and the Delta variant.

The minister also provided an update on the national vaccination rollout programme.

It has now been confirmed without a doubt that the Delta variant has driven the third wave in Gauteng, as well as other parts of the country.

Some provinces, however, are still battling the Beta variant as a driving force.

Delta variant dominates SA

The Delta variant is currently detected in more than 25 countries around the globe, and is more transmissible than the previous two variants.

However, there is a spec of good news on the horizon.

Professor Penny Moore said existing laboratory data suggests “vaccines in use in South Africa will work better against the Delta variant than the Beta variant”.

In addition, Professor Glenda Gray said, “All the data we see indicate immediate and sustained immune response against Delta, and we see surprising durability in the immune response for the single-dose J&J right up to eight months”.

Image: Health ministry

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Vaccine efficacy

While vaccinated individuals are immune to the Alpha and Beta variants, this is not the case with the Delta variant.

The health minister confirmed South Africa will be receiving more Covid-19 vaccines soon – 2.1 million Pfizer doses are expected in July, along with the remaining 500 00 Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccines.

More than 122 000 citizens were vaccinated during the past 24 hours.

The department is currently vaccinating, on average, 120 000 people daily, and hopes to surpass the 150 000-mark over the coming days.

At the time of publishing, approximately 300 000 teachers had been vaccinated, and more than 266 000 people in the over-50 age group had registered for the vaccine on 1 July.

Data shared by Professor Gray showed the Beta variant was reducing the efficacy and effectiveness of most vaccines administered in South Africa.

She confirmed the J&J vaccines work well in South Africa against the Beta variant as well.

Hospital beds in Gauteng

Ntsakisi Maluleke shared a summary of the Gauteng Department of Health’s efforts in responding to the increased number of hospitalisation experienced in the province.

As of 23 June, the seven-day average of rolling admissions was 629.

Early predictions indicated 6,000 beds would be needed to respond to the third wave, or 8 000 in a worst-case scenario.

However, the modelling was recalculated in light of the Delta variant now dominating the surge.

The new prediction indicates that 9 500 beds would be required across both the public and private sectors in Gauteng.

The department created permanent long-term additional capacity during the first wave, which had 3,260 functional beds at the time – substantially more than than the current 1 925 available beds.

During the second wave, 593 beds at Nasrec and 235 from Charlotte Maxeke Hospital were added.

As it stands currently, there are 7 515 available in total, of which 2 410 are occupied in the public sector and 5 105 in the private sector, which adds up to an occupancy rate of 91%.

Maluleke says had the Gauteng Health Department not increased beds early on during the first and second waves, the province would have been battling an occupancy rate of 135%.

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