Top health official worries vaccine won’t be effective against S. African strain

6 January 2021, 7:56 pm

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Sharon Alroy-Preis, the head of the Health’s Ministry department of public services, expresses concern over the effectiveness of the vaccines to shield its recipients from the South African variant.

“The South African variant is more troubling because it could cause serious illness among the young. It’s not yet clear how the vaccine will affect it and there’s preliminary research that is worrisome,” she tells a Knesset panel. “The new research tested 11 cases in relation to the antibodies developed by the existing vaccine and there is a suspicion that the vaccines will be less effective. If we reach the conclusion that it’s less effective, we will ask confirmed cases and those returning from South Africa to quarantine in hotels.”