SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President David Mabuza are today scheduled to receive the country’s first consignment of COVID-19 vaccine.
The South African political leadership will receive the vaccine consignment from India. The vaccines are from Biovac, a bio-pharmaceutical company that was formed in 2003 in a partnership between government and private investors to establish local vaccine manufacturing capability.
According to a statement from the South African presidency, Biovac is expected to play an important role in the quality assurance, warehousing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
The SA presidency said the arrival of the first consignment at OR Tambo International Airport will mark the start of the vaccine rollout which Ramaphosa described as the largest and most complex logistical vaccine undertaking in South Africa’s country’s history.
“The scale of delivery is unprecedented in terms of the number of people who have to be reached within a short space of time. The aim of the vaccination programme is to achieve immunity across the population. The first phase of this rollout programme will prioritise around 1.2 million frontline health workers.
“Government is coordinating the vaccine programme through the committee chaired by the Deputy President, which is focused on procurement, distribution, actual vaccination, monitoring, communication and mobilisation,” the presidency said in a statement.
- SOUTH Africa has secured an additional 20 million coronavirus vaccines manufactured by Pfizer, national newspaper The Sunday Times has reported, citing an interview with the health minister.
Africa’s most advanced economy has been one of the slowest among major emerging market nations to secure enough vaccines for the majority of its population and is due to begin administering first shots next month.
The extra doses would potentially push total supply secured by the continent’s worst-hit country above 40 million. South Africa has recorded more than 1.4 million cases of COVID-19 with close to 44,000 deaths.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told the Sunday Times: “These vaccines are secured and awaiting manufacturers to submit final agreements with details of delivery dates and exact amounts.”
The article did not give further details and the ministry did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters.
South Africa has so far secured around 12 million doses from the COMVAX vaccine distribution scheme co-led by the World Health Organization, 12 million from an African Union arrangement, and 9 million from Johnson & Johnson.
Its first batch of 1 million coronavirus vaccine doses is due to arrive on February 1, destined for healthcare workers. They are the AstraZeneca shots, produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII).
A further 500,000 doses is expected from the SII in February, also for health workers.