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First COVID-19 vaccine trial in South Africa begin

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VOW FM 88.1 — The first clinical trial for for a vaccine against Covid-19 will star this week. This was announce on 23 June 2020, during a virtual press conference hosted by the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The South African Ox1Cov-19 Vaccine VIDA-Trial aims to find a vaccine that will prevent infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.In South Africa, at least 80,000 people have already been diagnosed with Covid-19 and more than 1,674 have died from Covid-19 since March, when the President declared a state of disaster and national lockdown.

SPEAKERS at the announcement included Professor Johnny Mahlangu, Head of the School of Pathology, Faculty of Health
Sciences, Wits University
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Professor Shabir Madhi, Principal Investigator and Director: South African Medical Research Council Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (VIDA) at Wits University, and the National Research Foundation/Department of Science and Technology SARChI Chair in Vaccine Preventable Diseases
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​​​Professor Helen Rees, Chair of the African Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group of the World Health Organization, Chair of the Programme and Policy Committee of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Chair of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority, and Executive Director of the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI)

Professor Glenda Gray, President and Chief Executive Officer, South African Medical Research Council, and Full Research Professor in the School of Clinical Medicine, Wits University

Professor Jeffrey Mphahlele, Vice President: Research, South African Medical Research Council

Dr Sandile Buthelezi, Director-General: National Department of Health
23 Jun 2020 English South Africa Technology · Music

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