South Africa Research Council Gets Right to Access Vaccine Data

(Bloomberg) -- The South African Medical Research Council won the right to access the country’s Covid-19 vaccination data, ending a standoff with the Department of Health.

The council compiles a weekly excess deaths report and says access to the data would allow it to show the role of vaccines in reducing mortality. 

“If we are able to put the data together, we can get a picture of how well the vaccines work - which is particularly important in the context of a new variant,” said Debbie Bradshaw, a chief specialist scientist at the council, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Read More: Scientists can’t access vaccine data

Privacy issues had to be negotiated with the department, the council said.

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