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South Africa is in negotiations with major vaccine manufacturers in an effort to procure vaccines that will immunize the population against COVID-19.
Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize described the country’s COVID-19 vaccine implementation plan earlier this week, stating that the government is aware of the urgency of obtaining a vaccine.
“We are targeting a minimum of 67% of the population to achieve herd immunity and the focus will be on a gradual rollout of the vaccine starting with the most vulnerable of our population,” said the minister.
“We have established structures to accelerate financing, sourcing and procurement and therefore the issue of vaccine strategy will receive the full attention of the department and the government.”
The vaccines will be available quickly, he said, to ensure herd immunity is achieved as soon as possible.
“Vaccines should be available quickly so that the majority of our citizens are covered by the end of the first year of implementation, this year,” said the minister.
“Having secured 10% of the population, we have embarked on other efforts to get the remaining 57% of the population targeted by the end of 2021 but more importantly, we are making efforts to get the vaccines a lot. before, hopefully already in February 2021, “he said.
The big four
The government is in talks to potentially secure vaccine stocks from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson have been directly contacted by the government regarding the supply of vaccines, while Moderna and AstraZeneca plan to supply vaccines through the Covax initiative, although there are currently no supplies of these are available for Africa.
All four manufacturers remain a consideration for South Africa, although the country’s vaccine purchasing program may be affected by available supply and cost.
The Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines have received approval for emergency use from several international regulatory agencies.
However, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has not yet received regulatory approval. It is expected to be awarded in January 2021.
It is important to note that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the only one of the four that is a single dose vaccine, which can make it cheaper and easier to administer in the population than the alternatives.
These vaccines also differ in their mechanics. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use messenger RNA (mRNA), which instructs cells to create antibodies that fight the proteins found in the coronavirus. They do not include the coronavirus itself, but only “instructions” to the body on how to fight the coronavirus.
The AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johson vaccines use the same basic principle, but store these instructions in double-stranded DNA instead of RNA. These instructions are added to a adenovirus, which is designed to enter cells but cannot replicate within them.
COVID-19 vaccine statistics
We have summarized the efficacy rate, storage temperature after thawing, dosage, and cost per dose for the four vaccines below.
Now Read: Africa’s Options for COVID-19 Vaccines Are Limited – Ramaphosa
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