cyril ramaphosa covid-19 vaccine

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SA to receive 500 000 J&J vaccine doses in a month – Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa used part of his State of the Nation Address (Sona) to further detail government’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout plans

cyril ramaphosa covid-19 vaccine

Image via Flickr/GCIS

It seems government’s vaccination plan is in full swing, with President Cyril Ramaphosa having announced that the country will receive 500 000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in four weeks.

Ramaphosa delivered his much-anticipated State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday, 11 February 2021.

The first batch of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is expected in a week and will be administered to healthcare workers, as part of its first phase of the rollout. Government is however, yet to clarify exactly how these jabs will be given.

Ramaphosa announced that in total, government had secured a total of nine million Johnson and Johnson vaccines, which has proven to be effective against the dominant variant of COVID-19.

“Further consignments will arrive over the next four weeks, totalling 500,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccines. All provinces have roll-out plans in place as the first vaccines come through,” he said.

“I wish to thank all provinces for their level of preparedness for this massive undertaking that we are about to embark upon”

The president further said that they had also managed to secure 12 million vaccine doses from the global COVAX facility.

“This will be complemented by other vaccines that are available to South Africa through the AU’s African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team facility as well,” Ramaphosa said.

In addition, Pfizer has also committed committed 20 million vaccine doses commencing with deliveries at the end of March.

Ramaphosa applauds scientists following AstraZeneca finding

There was a setback to government’s vaccination rollout plan, after a study found that the AstraZeneca vaccines which the country had purchased, would be ineffective against the new variant of the virus.

Ramaphosa has lauded the country’s scientists and researchers following the findings and said they would continue using a science-driven approach in responding to the pandemic.

“We applaud these scientists for leading this research and providing new evidence that is vital for guiding our response. Since this variant is now the dominant variant in our country, these findings have significant implications for the pace, design and sequencing of our vaccine programme,” he said.

The president further said while the findings should not delay the start of the vaccination programme by much, it will affect the choice of vaccines and the manner of their deployment.

“We are continuing our engagements with all the vaccine manufacturers to ensure that we secure sufficient quantities of vaccines that are suitable to our conditions”