[fChk]

There were also discussions that there were bad side effects for the elderly.  Although I didn't see any scientific documentation on it.  Just news reports.

Sporadic complications are inevitable for all age groups; that's just a fact reflecting the biodiversity among human populations, this is why Statistics is KING as to inferring any actual meaning to those incidents.

(...) Just imagine the cost of the vaccine - basically millions invested in a major vaccination project in South Africa, and it was virtually aborted before it started.(.....)

As to the cost, Oxford-AstraZeneca is the cheapest Covid-15 vaccine on the market, 3$ a dose; I would image that this is the major factor in the decision-making process for 3rd-World countries, alongside the logistics of deployment.

By comparison, J&J, which uses the same technology as Oxford-AstraZeneca (ie adenovirus-based vaccine) costs 10$ a dose, just like the Russian adenovirus-based vaccine, Sputnik V.

Novavax costs 16$ a dose, while the mRNA-based vaccines costs around 19$ for Pfizer-BioNTech and 30$ for Moderna (according to the latest figures.)

Most scientists here would want to pursue a vaccine that can be given as a single dose, since South Africa is a third world country with millions to be vaccinated, and logistically the administration and availability of health workers is a great challenge.  So the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the most actively pursued vaccine at the moment.  First batch is expected at beginning of March.  Obviously other vaccines are also pursued as only so many can be purchased of any one vaccine at one time. Novavax is also being purchased. Novavax has to be used in two doses, but seems to have a greater efficacy than Johnson & Johnson.  Novavax however hasn't been tested in South Africa yet for the new Covid 19 strain 501Y.V2.  Reports however from other countries on testing Novavax seem to be promising for efficacy against all three new strains of the virus.

Okay!.. Then J&J should do fine with those requirements in mind.

Novavax however hasn't been tested in South Africa yet for the new Covid 19 strain 501Y.V2.  

For folks wondering about the 501Y.V2, it's what's refereed to as the South-african SARS-CoV-2 variant in the news, the labels 20H/501Y.V2 or B.1.351 are its entries in the virus variants databases; they are routinely used in the scientific literature but are also used in more formal discussions to avoid any stigmatization of individual countries (by association.) Unlike what Trump used to do when referring to the Covid-15 virus as the "Chinese virus" :-)