SOUTH Africa has started COVID-19 vaccinations to those aged between 18 and 35 years old, as it tries to ramp up its immunisation drive.

The country has recorded the most coronavirus infections and deaths on the African continent, but it has so far only fully vaccinated less than 8% of its population of 60 million.

“As part of increasing the vaccination roll-out programme, Cabinet approved the vaccination of persons aged between 18 years and 35 years from 20 August,” the government said.

South Africa’s vaccination campaign started slowly due to a mix of bureaucratic failures, bad luck and onerous negotiations with pharmaceutical companies. The first vaccine doses were given to healthcare workers in a research study from mid-February before the elderly were vaccinated from mid-May.

The government has set a target of reaching at least 300,000 COVID-19 vaccinations a day by the end of this month, but in the latest 24-hour period it managed just 195,000, according to a health department website. 

It aims to have given at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to 35 million of its people by December, compared to roughly 7.7 million now.

South Africa is using the Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer vaccines. It has signed bilateral deals with the two U.S. pharmaceutical companies and is also receiving some Pfizer shots via the global vaccine distribution scheme COVAX.

Source - The African Mirror