About 14 884 frontline healthcare workers in Mpumalanga have received the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Covid-19 vaccine that was halted on Tuesday. The minister of health, Dr Zwelini Mkhize, announced the temporary suspension of the J&J vaccine roll-out.
This follows the decision by the United States Food and Drug Administration to suspend these vaccines in the US, due to reports of six vaccinated females who developed unusual blood clots with low platelets.
The Department of Health’s HOD, Dr Savera Mohangi, was the first person in the province to get the J&J Covid-19 vaccine in February. She is among the 29 per cent of the frontliners in the province to have received it.
Lowvelder contacted the provincial Department of Health regarding Mohangi’s condition since receiving the vaccine.
Dumisani Malamule, the spokesperson for DoH, said, “Mohangi is fine and only experienced mild headache the following day after being vaccinated. This is nothing serious, since she has a history of reacting to medication. People react differently towards different medications.”
According to Malamule, the HOD is currently on leave. The province has been allocated 16 698 doses of vaccine to date. On Monday April 12, Mpumalanga, recorded six Covid-19-related deaths, which made it the third highest province in the country.
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As of April 13, 1 373 deaths were recorded in the province. The total cases recorded are 76 373 and active cases are 823. The minister said South Africa has not had any reports of clots formed after vaccination, and this is after having inoculated 289 787 healthcare workers under the Sisonke Protocol.
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“After this advisory announcement came to my attention, I held urgent consultations with our scientists who advised that we cannot take the decision made by the FDA lightly,” said Mkhize.
