DEPUTY President David Mabuza has reiterated government’s stance to ramp up efforts for the country to produce its own lifesaving vaccines, as the world battles Covid-19.
Mabuza conducted an oversight visit at the Biovac Institute, which is the storage centre for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, on Tuesday.
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The company was set up to establish local vaccine manufacturing capability for the provision of vaccines for national health management and security.
“We do currently manufacture vaccines. Almost 80 per cent of the vaccines we use are manufactured in Cape Town, and then we distribute. But we want to increase this capacity,” said Mabuza.
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Mabuza, who chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC), said after his visit to Biovac that government is determined to improve the country’s vaccine manufacturing capabilities.
He believes that the country will not need another storage facility. Mabuza also assured the public that measures have been taken to curb corruption in the roll out of vaccines.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
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