Covid-19: Vaccine expert on AstraZeneca vaccine trouble

Published: Feb. 9, 2021, 7:27 p.m.

South Africa has put its roll-out of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on hold after a study showed "disappointing" results against its new Covid-19 variant. However a New Zealand vaccine expert says the AstraZeneca's vaccine is "protecting very well" against most strains of Covid-19 and should still be rolled out here. New Zealand has ordered 7.6 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which would be enough to vaccinate 3.8m people. Helen Petousis-Harris is a past chair of the World Health Organisation's Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety, and an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland.