Unsurprisingly South Africa Is The Primary Location Within Africa For Covid-19 Clinical Trials

clinicaltrials |  On the topic of immune escape: Gauteng, the province where the Omicron cluster was detected, has just come out of heavy Delta wave. This suggests that the antibodies binding to Delta might not do that much for Omicron.

This is also quite possibly the reason for Omicron being discovered there – researchers encountered
an unexpected and unexplained uptick in Covid numbers, prompting them to look a bit harder. Of course luck favours the prepared – the research teams there are capable, in possession of good sequencing kits and know how to use them.

I would not be surprised if Omicron arose somewhere else completely, and just got detected in Gauteng.
The vast number new of mutations could be explained by an unknown population outside RSA, whether nearby in Zimbabwe or at the other ends of Africa be it in Senegal or Egypt.

This does suggest that blocking flights from RSA might already be too late. This is not to say that quarantining international flyers is a bad thing – if I were in charge that would be the case for any international arival anywhere. Pets have always been quarantined – if your dog has to do it, you should too.

Finally I have a theory why the WHO is so reluctant to ban international air travel: WHO staff are probably among the most frequent of fliers – one day in Geneva at a conference, the next day in Canada to lobby for funding and the next week in the DRC to worry about Ebola. This means that blocking flights is unthinkable for them, even if it is a sensible course of action.

Row	Saved	Status	Study Title	Conditions	Interventions	Locations
1		Recruiting	COVID-19 Vaccination Using a 2nd Generation (E1/E2B/E3-Deleted) Adenoviral Platform in Healthy South African Adults	Covid19	Biological: hAd5-S-Fusion+N-ETSD vaccine	Khayelitsha Clinical Research Site Khayelitsha, South Africa
2		Active, not recruiting	BCG Vaccination for Healthcare Workers in COVID-19 Pandemic	COVID-19 Sars-CoV2	Biological: Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) Other: Placebo Comparator	TASK Foundation Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
3		Recruiting	A First Time in Human Phase 1 Open-Label Study of the COVIDITY Vaccine Administered by Needle-free Injection	COVID-19	Biological: COVIDITY administered via needle-free injection (PharmaJet Tropis®; intradermal injection). Biological: COVIDITY administered via needle-free injection (PharmaJet Stratis®; intramuscular injection).	University of Cape Town Lung Institute, Centre for TB Research Innovation Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
4		Not yet recruiting	A Study of Safety and Immunogenicity of Adjuvanted SARS-CoV-2 (SCB-2019) Vaccine in Adults With Chronic Immune-Mediated Diseases	COVID-19	Biological: CpG 1018/Alum-adjuvanted SCB-2019 vaccine Biological: Havrix Other: Placebo; 0.9% saline	Brandwag, Bloemfontein Brandwag, Bloemfontein, South Africa Cape Town Cape Town, South Africa Kyiv Kyiv, Ukraine Kyiv Kyiv, Ukraine
5		Recruiting	Efficacy, Immunogenicity and Safety of COVID-19 Vaccine , Inactivated in Children and Adolescents	COVID-19	Biological: Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine Biological: Controlled vaccine	Hospital de Puerto Montt Puerto Montt, Los Lagos, Chile Clínica Alemana Valdivia Valdivia, Los Ríos, Chile Hospital Universidad Clinico de Antofagasta Antofagasta, Metropolitana, Chile (and 37 more...)
6		Not yet recruiting	A Controlled Phase 2/3 Study of Adjuvanted Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Trimeric S-protein Vaccine (SCB-2019) for the Prevention of COVID-19	COVID-19	Biological: CpG 1018/Alum-adjuvanted SCB-2019 vaccine Biological: Placebo; 0.9% saline	Anima Alken, Belgium Universitair Ziekenhuis Gent Gent, Belgium Private Practice RESPISOM Namur Namur, Belgium (and 45 more...)
7		Recruiting	Study to Describe the Safety, Tolerability, Immunogenicity, and Efficacy of RNA Vaccine Candidates Against COVID-19 in Healthy Individuals	SARS-CoV-2 Infection COVID-19	Biological: BNT162b1 Biological: BNT162b2 Other: Placebo Biological: BNT162b2SA	North Alabama Research Center, LLC Athens, Alabama, United States Birmingham Clinical Research Unit Birmingham, Alabama, United States Medical Affiliated Research Center Huntsville, Alabama, United States (and 163 more...)
8		Active, not recruiting	A Study of Ad26.COV2.S for the Prevention of SARS-CoV-2-Mediated COVID-19 in Adult Participants	Participants With or Without Stable Co-morbidities Associated With Progression to Severe COVID-19 at Different Stages of the Protocol	Biological: Ad26.COV2.S Other: Placebo	Synexus Clinical Research US, Inc Birmingham, Alabama, United States University of Alabama Birmingham Birmingham, Alabama, United States Alabama Vaccine Research Clinic at UAB Birmingham, Alabama, United States (and 216 more...)
9		Recruiting	A Study Looking at the Effectiveness and Safety of a COVID-19 Vaccine in South African Adults	SARS-CoV-2 Infection COVID-19	Biological: SARS-CoV-2 rS/Matrix-M1 Adjuvant Other: Placebo	ZA018 Bloemfontein, Free State Of South Africa, South Africa ZA003 Hillbrow, Gauteng, South Africa Site ZA001 Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa (and 11 more...)
10		Active, not recruiting	Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, and Immunogenicity of SARS CoV-2 RNA Vaccine Candidate (BNT162b2) Against COVID-19 in Healthy Pregnant Women 18 Years of Age and Older	SARS-CoV-2 Infection COVID-19 Maternal Immunization	Biological: BNT162b2 Other: Placebo	Children's of Alabama Birmingham, Alabama, United States University of Alabama at Birmingham Women & Infant Center Birmingham, Alabama, United States University of Alabama at Birmingham/Center for Women's Reproductive Health Birmingham, Alabama, United States (and 79 more...)