South Africa unapologetically rejects the Russian vaccine against covid, Sputnik V, despite the fact that ¾ of its population of 59 million is not yet vaccinated. Should we be worried for the same reasons? Dr. Vasantrao Gujadhur reveals that he can’t comment until more in-depth studies are done.
“We cannot take this lightly and we cannot panic about South Africa’s decision. We will have to rely on the results of further studies on the effects of the Sputnik V vaccine. A good part of the Mauritian population has been inoculated with this Russian anti-vaccine. There are indeed many Mauritians carrying HIV. I am already working on this,” says Dr Vasantrao Gujadhur.
According to the statement from Saphra, the South African Vaccine Agency, “The use of the Sputnik V vaccine in South Africa, where HIV prevalence and incidence is high, may increase the risk of HIV infection in vaccinated men.” But South Africa’s concerns would be “totally unfounded” according to the Russian centre Gamaleya, which developed the vaccine, because these findings “are based on small-scale studies“.
Factually, South Africa is among the African countries with a large number of HIV carriers but also very affected by Covid 19, with more than 2.9 million cases and 88 600 deaths. Considering Sputnik V is already in use in 45 countries despite not being officially approved by the WHO, South Africa uses Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer/BioNTech and Sinovac.
