Faizel Patel – 26/07/2021

SA Medical Research Council (SAMRC) president, Professor Glenda Gray has told Radio Islam there is no need to take a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

This comes after top infectious disease official Anthony Fauci on Sunday said that Americans who are immune compromised may end up needing COVID-19 vaccine booster shots as the United States deals with increasing cases from the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Last week it was reported that there was a decrease in the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine in preventing infections and symptomatic illness.

Professor Gray says the need for a third jab of the Pfizer vaccine is just another way to make more money.

“There is no evidence that we need a third vaccine just yet. I think that at this moment in time there’s no evidence, maybe just another way of rich countries keeping their vaccines or another way of manufacturers to make money as they roll it out. So I think what we have to do is it is our obligation to get everybody in the country at least one vaccine and then a second vaccine and then to look at the data at a global level to see whether anyone needs a third dose.”

Professor Gray says there also has been no reported cases of the Lambda variant of COVID-19 in South Africa

In a World Health Organization (WHO) Africa online briefing on Thursday, Professor Tulio de Oliveira from the Network for Genomic Surveillance SA (NGS-SA) said the continent has been alerted about the Lambda variant and is increasing genomic testing.

Professor Gray says they are monitoring the spread of the Lambda strain.

“It is very important for us to continue to observe and make sure we understand what variants we are getting in our country. We rapidly saw how quickly the Delta could overtake the Beta in this country so we have to make sure that we detect Lambda before it causes a pandemonium just like Delta did.”

Professor Gray says there is huge concerns surrounding the possible spike in Coronavirus infections following the chaos and violence that plagued parts of the country this month.

(Twitter: @FaizelPatel143)

Listen to the interview with Professor Glenda Gray