South Africa vaccinates some young children in clinical test of Chinese vaccine

South Africa vaccinates some kids in test of Chinese vaccine JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa on Friday started vaccinating children and adolescents as part of the global Phase 3 clinical trials of China’s Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged between 6 months and 17 years. AP NEWS

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa on Friday started vaccinating children and adolescents as part of the global Phase 3 clinical trials of China’s Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged between 6 months and 17 years.

The global study will enroll 2,000 participants in South Africa and 12,000 others will be taking part in Kenya, the Philippines, Chile and Malaysia. ...

South Africa has recorded 6,270 new infections and 175 deaths in the last 24 hours.

More than 7 million people have been fully vaccinated with either the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. It is currently offering vaccines to all adults 18 years and older as it seeks to vaccinate at least 40 million people of its 60 million population by the end of the year but it is struggling to reach its target of vaccinating at least 300,000 people daily.

On Friday health minister Joe Phaahla announced the country would be issuing digital vaccination certificates to enable South Africans to produce these wherever they are needed. ...