The North's chief medical officer has said people should have "high levels of confidence" in the Covid-19 vaccines being administered in Northern Ireland.
Dr Michael McBride said the vaccines in use were effective against the strains of coronavirus present in Northern Ireland.
South Africa halted its use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine on Sunday after a study of about 2,000 people showed it offered only minimal protection against mild symptoms caused by the South African variant of Covid-19.
Due to the relatively young age of the participants, the study could not establish if it protected against severe illness, though scientists in South Africa believe it might protect against more serious cases.
Dr McBride said on Monday that so far there had been no confirmed cases of the South African variant in Northern Ireland.
A small number of cases have been detected in the Republic.
The North's Department of Health reported the deaths of 12 more people with Covid-19, bringing the total number of fatalities to 1,943. A further 296 people tested positive for the virus.
Vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca are currently being used in the North’s vaccination programme. More than 260,000 doses of vaccine have been administered, including more than 233,000 first doses. GPs have begun to vaccinate the 70-plus age group, while online booking has opened for vaccinations for those aged between 65 and 69. Dr McBride said both vaccines were “protecting people from Covid-19 – and saving lives.
“They have been independently and expertly assessed as effective against the strains of the virus that are dominant in Northern Ireland and elsewhere on these islands. They have been approved for the entire adult population.”
He said that while he was aware of the “small-scale study” regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine, more study was required on the full efficacy of vaccines against all variants.
“I wish to assure people here on two important fronts,” he said.
“Firstly, the South Africa variant is not dominant in the UK – indeed there have been no confirmed cases of it at all in Northern Ireland at this time.
“Secondly, while protection against mild disease is obviously desirable, the most important objective is protection against serious illness, hospitalisation and death. Any vaccine that achieves that is a successful vaccine.
“Of course, we must take the emergence of new variants seriously. We can all play our part in doing that by taking those steps that prevent the virus in any form spreading,” he said.
