South African epidemiologist calls on international community to look at origin-tracing matter in a science-based manner

An elderly person receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site in Johannesburg, South Africa, May 17, 2021. (Xinhua/Yeshiel)

Recently, the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority announced it was authorizing the emergency use of the CoronaVac vaccine from China with conditions 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 quite a rigorous regulatory process.  ''When we look at the performance that they have made, we've ensured the approved vaccines are of high quality, safe and effective.”

Now with more variants of SARS-Cov-2 emerging around the world, Karim warned that we should expect coming variants to pose more challenges to our existing vaccination program, in which case we might need to give people a booster dose.

''We no longer simply can just vaccinate and hope that everything's going to go back to normal,” Karim said, “We 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.”

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

“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,” he said, “This is not a time for political posturing or finger pointing. We need to do so in a transparent way so that all the different possibilities are analyzed. It’s in everyone's best interest to get an answer that is scientifically credible.”

Karim also pointed out that the Delta variant is spreading fast in Africa. We are seeing a rapid increase in confirmed cases on the African continent. In order to expand the vaccination program, Africa is expecting the international community to come forward and help provide more vaccines for rural African countries.