Johannesburg, South Africa – South Africa, the continent’s worst COVID-affected country, will receive its first batch of coronavirus vaccines on Monday.
Originally scheduled for the end of January, the first million injections of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine produced in India will be used to inoculate health workers over the next three months. The second batch of 500,000 jabs is scheduled for release later in February.
Despite criticism from opposition parties and medical experts that the vaccine procurement process has taken too long, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize calls the arrival of the vaccines from the Serum Institute of India “a tremendous achievement on an unprecedented scale”.
Once the shipment has undergone quality controls, which will take between 10 and 14 days, the country will begin its long-awaited three-phase immunization campaign. After the vaccination of primary health workers, other at-risk groups such as the elderly, people with comorbidities and essential workers such as minibus drivers, police and teachers will get their shot. The third phase focuses on all others over the age of 18.
The first shipment of 1 million doses of the #OxfordAstraZeneca vaccine of the @SerumInstIndia is on its way to @RTLnews
The shipment has today left Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai and will arrive in South Africa on February 1, 2021.#COVID-19 pic.twitter.com/lTw1EtGi0d– South African Government (@GovernmentZA) January 31, 2021
The arrival of the injections comes a month after the UK first introduced the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, and about two months after the UK and the United States started to introduce the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. use. .
Responding to allegations that the delay was caused by the South African government starting negotiations late, Deputy Director General of the National Ministry of Health, Dr Anban Pillay, told Al Jazeera: “We couldn’t buy a vaccine without knowing that it is effective and safe. and when it would be delivered. For some vaccines, this information only became available in December. We had to wait for this information before making a financial commitment. “
Under the agreement, South Africa will pay $ 5.25 per injection, $ 2 more than what it will cost when the same vaccine comes in under the deal the African Union (AU) has made for African countries.
Professor Barry Schoeb, who chairs the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) on COVID-19, said South Africa prioritized the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine because “it is the vaccine that was immediately available”.
Authorities aim to vaccinate 40 million South Africans, or 65 percent of the population of nearly 60 million, by the end of 2021. “But efficiency depends on a lot of factors,” Mkhize acknowledged in a public web briefing about the vaccine last week, including uncertainty as to whether South Africa will actually receive the ordered doses.
While he promised the government would do its best to get as many people vaccinated as possible, “many other countries are currently not getting the supplies they have ordered,” the minister warned.
According to official sources, 21 million shots of the Pfizer (12 million) and Johnson & Johnson (nine million) vaccines have been obtained through collective programs such as the World Health Organization-sponsored COVAX program and the AU, as well as bilateral agreements. with suppliers. Meanwhile, Mkhize told a Sunday newspaper that Pfizer had ordered a further 20 million photos, bringing South Africa’s expected supply to more than 40 million doses.
“These vaccines are secured and are waiting for manufacturers to provide final agreements with details on delivery dates and exact quantities,” Mkhize told The Sunday Times.
South Africa is the African country 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 were traced to a new strain identified last year.
The powerful new 501Y.V2 variant is believed 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 under investigation, and results are expected in the coming days.
#ListenToTheExperts
Professor Barry Schoub solves it #COVID-19 vaccine microchip myth. pic.twitter.com/cvHCqtFm9c– Ministry of Health: COVID-19 (@ COVID_19_ZA) January 30, 2021
Meanwhile, the government has launched a social media campaign – using hashtags like #VacciNation and #ListenToTheExperts – to debunk myths and rumors about COVID-19 and vaccines that are widely distributed.
“We are going to make sure there is enough information available to the communities to dispel doubts about the vaccines,” Mkhize said.
The Department of Health is currently conducting a survey to find out how much information exists among health professionals about vaccines, as some appear to be afraid of being vaccinated.
“People are scared. They talk about 5G, triple 6 and microchips, ”said a nurse who worked at a clinic in the center of Johannesburg. According to the information from the nurse, the online training of nurses will start on Monday.
“Health workers are not sufficiently informed about the vaccine,” said Sibongiseni Delihlaso of the Democratic Nursing Organization of South Africa.
“It is they who will drive on the ground with this. How are these people going to convince patients to get the vaccine if they are not convinced? “