One of the South African government's top advisers on Covid-19 vaccines said on Friday that the Pfizer-BioNTech shot was "still a very good vaccine," despite a study showing the dominant local virus variant may reduce protective antibodies elicited by it.

Barry Schoub, chairperson of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on vaccines, told Reuters that the two-thirds reduction in protective antibodies mentioned in the study "means there is quite a significant remnant neutralising potency".