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President Cyril Ramaphosa says that the first batch of Johnson & Johnson’s (J & J’s) Covid-19 vaccine is being prepared for distribution in South Africa with immediate effect.
Ramaphosa said that he and Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize would join the first health workers to receive the vaccine in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, to show their confidence in the blows.
This follows the arrival of the first shipment of 80,000 injections of the J&J vaccine Tuesday night at OR Tambo International Airport. South Africa has secured nine million doses of the vaccine and an additional 500,000 doses are expected to arrive in its homeland in the next four weeks.
WATCH: First batch of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine arrives in South Africa
Ramaphosa said the J&J vaccine, which has been approved by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA), will be shipped quickly to all nine provinces. He said most vaccination centers were expected to be ready to administer vaccines to healthcare workers starting Wednesday.
“We are pleased to be able to start vaccination in mid-February, as we had announced. This is despite the fact that the AstraZeneca vaccine that we had purchased for this purpose showed little efficacy against the 501Y.V2 variant that is currently dominant in South Africa, ”Ramaphosa said in a statement Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the government halted the launch of the million-million Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine that arrived from the Serum Institute of India (SII). This followed preliminary data showing that the vaccine provided minimal protection against mild to moderate infection caused by the 501Y.V2 variant discovered in South Africa last year.
The President congratulated the Interministerial Vaccine Committee, the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Vaccines, Mkhize and his team, and the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) for responding quickly and effectively to this challenge.
He said the J&J vaccine had been shown in extensive trials to be safe and effective, and would protect our healthcare workers from illness and death from Covid-19.
“We have asked leaders from various sectors and parts of the country to lead by example and get publicly vaccinated. Therefore, we will witness the vaccination of some prime ministers, MEC and leaders of civil society, religious formations and traditional leaders in all provinces, ”said Ramaphosa.
“Through this vaccination program, the government aims to achieve immunity for the population to save lives and protect livelihoods. We have chosen vaccination and we call on all South Africans to choose the vaccine and protect each other ”.
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