Johannesburg, South Africa – South Africa, the continent’s worst COVID country, will receive its first batch of coronavirus vaccines on Monday.
The first million shots of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine manufactured in India were initially scheduled for late January to vaccinate health workers over the next three months. The second batch of 500,000 jabs is scheduled to arrive later in February.
Despite criticism from opposition parties and medical experts that the vaccine procurement process took too long, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize called the arrival of the Serum Institute of India’s vaccines “a massive achievement of unprecedented proportions”.
Once the consignment has undergone quality control, which will last between 10 and 14 days, the country will begin its long-awaited, three-phase vaccination campaign. After vaccinating frontline health workers, other high-risk groups such as the elderly, people with illnesses and essential workers such as minibus drivers, police and teachers will get their chance. The third phase is aimed at anyone over 18 years of age.
The first consignment of 1 million doses of the #OxfordAstraZeneca vaccine of the @ SerumInstIndia is on his way to @ortambo_int
The consignment left the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai today and will arrive in South Africa on 1 February 2021.# COVID-19 pic.twitter.com/lTw1EtGi0d– South African Government (@GovernmentZA) 31 January 2021
The arrival of the jabs comes a month after the United Kingdom was the first vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, and about two months after the United Kingdom and the United States started using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. has. .
Deputy Director-General of the National Department of Health, dr. Anban Pillay, on the accusations that the South African government started negotiations too late, said: “We could not obtain a vaccine without knowing that it was effective, safe and when it would be delivered. “This information is only available for some vaccines in December. We had to wait to get this information before making a financial commitment.”
Under its agreement, South Africa will pay $ 5.25 per shot, $ 2 more than it will cost when the same vaccine is included in the agreement that the African Union (AU) has secured for African countries.
Professor Barry Schoeb, who chairs the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) on COVID-19, said that South Africa preferred the vaccine against AstraZeneca-Oxford as ‘it was the one that was immediately available’.
Authorities aim to vaccinate 40 million South Africans by 2021, or 65 percent of the population of almost 60 million. “But efficacy will depend on many factors,” Mkhize acknowledged in a public briefing on the vaccine last week, including the uncertainty as to whether South Africa would receive the ordered doses.
While promising that the government will do its best to get as many people vaccinated as possible, “many other countries are currently not getting the supplies they ordered”, the minister warned.
According to official sources, 21 million shots of the Pfizer (12 million) and the Johnson & Johnson (nine million) vaccines were secured through collective programs such as the COVAX scheme supported by the World Health Organization and the AU, as well as bilateral transactions. with suppliers. Meanwhile, Mkhize told a Sunday newspaper that another 20 million shots had been ordered by Pfizer, taking South Africa’s expected stock to more than 40 million doses.
“These vaccines are being secured and are awaiting manufacturers to submit final agreements detailing delivery dates and exact amounts,” Mkhize told The Sunday Times.
South Africa is the country of Africa most affected by the pandemic, with nearly 1.5 million confirmed cases and nearly 44,000 related deaths. In January, new daily infections peaked at more than 20,000, the vast majority of which can be traced back to a new strain identified last year.
The powerful new 501Y.V2 variant is thought to be 50 percent more transmissible than previous variants, while some studies have shown that it is relatively more resistant to existing vaccines.
Whether the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is effective against it is currently being studied, with the results expected in the coming days.
#LuisterToTheExperts
Professor Barry Schoub demystifies the # COVID-19 vaccine microchip mite. pic.twitter.com/cvHCqtFm9c– Department of Health: COVID-19 (@ COVID_19_ZA) 30 January 2021
Meanwhile, the government has launched a campaign on social media – using hashtags such as #VacciNation and #ListenToTheExperts – to dispel myths and rumors about COVID-19 and widely circulated vaccines.
“We are going to make sure that there is sufficient information available to the communities to dispel the doubts about the vaccines,” Mkhize said.
The Department of Health is currently conducting a study to determine the level of information on vaccines among health professionals, as some are afraid of being vaccinated.
“People are scared. They are talking about 5G, triple 6 and microchips, ”said a nurse at a clinic near Johannesburg. According to the nurse’s information, the nurses’ online training will begin on Monday.
“Healthcare workers are not sufficiently informed about the vaccine,” said Sibongiseni Delihlaso, of the Democratic Nursing Organization of South Africa.
“It simply came to our notice then. How are these people going to convince patients to get the vaccine if they are not convinced? ”