Second batch of Johnson and Johnson vaccines arrives in SA

The second batch of 80,000 Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Covid-19 vaccine arrived at the OR Tambo International Airport on Saturday Morning.

A South African Airways (SAA) flight left for Belgium to collect the batch on Thursday.

This now pushes the total number of doses received in the first phase of the government’s rollout program to 160,000.

The vaccines will be distributed to different centres country-wide.

“South Africa’s second tranche of Johnson&Johnson Covid-19 vaccines have touched down at OR Tambo Int! It comes as the majority of initial doses received two weeks ago have been administered to healthcare workers,” Health Minister Zweli Mkhize tweeted.

South Africa began its vaccination programm last week with Healthcare workers in the public and private sectors becoming the first in line to receive the jab as part of phase one of the mass rollout of the vaccine.

ALSO READ: Here are the 18 sites where SA’s first vaccinations will take place

The country has set aside a budget of R9 billion towards funding the free Covid-19 vaccination programme in the medium term, with the rollout expected to gather pace in the second half of the year.

This brings the vaccine rollout costs to a total of R10.3 billion for the current year, as an additional R1.3 billion was allocated in the current financial year.

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