SOUTH Africa has secured the first 1.5 million Covid-19 vaccine doses that will be delivered to the country by next month.
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This was announced in a statement by Dr Zweli Mkhize,
“Today we announce that South Africa will be receiving 1 000 000 (one million) doses in January and 500 000 (five hundred thousand) doses in February from the SII (Serum Institute of India),” he said.
Mkhize said the vaccine doses will be administered to the country’s more than 1.2 million healthcare workers.
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Mkhize said preparation of the rollout has already started.
“As recently as yesterday, our teams from the National Department of Health and the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) were fine tuning and aligning all the regulations processes to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays or regulatory impediments to activate this roll out,” he said.
“We are happy that the SII/ Astra Zeneca vaccine has already been approved by various regulators and is being rolled out in other countries. Therefore, as part of expediting the regulatory process, SAHPRA is applying reliance on that regulatory work.”
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Mkhize asked for patience as the country takes another historic step in fighting Covid-19.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
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