South African epidemiologist calls on international community to approach origin-tracing matters in science-based way

Recently, the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority gave conditional authorisation for use of the Coronavac vaccine from China in South Africa.

Prof. Salim Abdool Karim, the director of the Center for the AIDS program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), said South Africa has a rigorous regulatory process. “When we look at the approvals that they have made, they’ve ensured that medications that are approved are of high-quality, that they are safe and they are effective.”

With more variants of the SARS-Cov-2 emerging around the world, Karim warned that if a new variant can escape vaccine immunity and spread rapidly, we can expect the next set of variants to pose a challenge to our existing vaccination program, and may need to give people a booster dose.

“We will no longer simply be able to just vaccinate and hope that everything's going to go back to normal… We now have to remain vigilant. We have to monitor each new variant. We have to assess it. And we have to be assured that the new variant is not escaping immunity if we are to aim to get to any semblance of normality,” he said.

Karim also agreed that the international community should look at origin-tracing matters in a science-based, objective and fair manner, and oppose politicizing the origin-tracing of the virus.

“It's very important that we identify sources of new viruses because it gives us clues as to what we can expect in the future… This is not a time for political posturing and finger pointing. We need to do so in a transparent way so that all the different possibilities are explored, the evidence is collected and the answers are obtained. It’s in everyone's interest to get an answer that is scientifically credible,” he said.