HEALTH MINISTER Dr Joe Phaahla has told the National Council of Provinces that current scientific reports suggest that vaccination still offers protection against the new Covid-19 variant C.1.2 identified in South Africa.
The variant – which has been detected in all provinces in low frequency – is reported to be more transmissible, resistant to neutralisation and causes more disease severity.
The minister was speaking during the National Council of Province’s Ministerial Briefing Session on the vaccination programme.
“The NICD (National Institute for Communicable Diseases) and the professors from KRISP (KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform) were reporting to the National Coronavirus Command Council this morning (and) the information at this stage is that this variant still responds to the vaccines.
“As to whether there will be boosters, the information at the moment does suggest that further down the line, we might require boosters. But that’s not really a priority for
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