This comes after the announcement by the Food and Drug Administration of the temporary suspension of the use of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in the US over potential links to a rare type of blood clot.
This after the CDC and FDA recommended that the US halt the use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine over potential links to a rare type of blood clot.
Giving an update on the sale of the COVID-19 vaccines, Minister Zweli Mkhize said it’s gratifying to know that countries like Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Uganda and Nigeria would benefit from the stockpile that SA could not use.
President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that 11 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine had already been secured and he said that a further 20 million of these single-dose shots would be making their way to South Africa soon.
The Democratic Alliance (DA)'s Siviwe Gwarube said that the rollout was almost non-existent, adding that days could go by with not a single health worker getting the jab.
What does the science show about transmission post-vaccination and can new variants change this equation?
South Africa's constitutional values of good public governance and transparency in public procurement have been sacrificed in the process of buying COVID-19 vaccines.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize engaged the media on 4 March 2021 at a webinar with the National Press Club where he emphasised that employers should not force their employees to vaccinate as the country approached phase two of the vaccine roll out
The new doses will be taken to a central location in Gauteng and from there they will be dispatched to the vaccination cites across the country.
New documents released by the US Food and Drug Administration show that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is highly effective against severe COVID-19, including against the variants identified in South Africa and Brazil.
In typically contradictory South African fashion, as the circus which is ANC politics played itself out on the national stage, hope was in the air as the local COVID-19 vaccine rollout began.
In his response to the State of the Nation debate, President Cyril Ramaphosa referred to the beginning of the vaccine rollout as a new chapter in the fight against COVID-19.
KZN has received 10,800 of the 80,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses that have touched down in the country so far.
The Gauteng Health Department is expecting more jabs from Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer to arrive soon.
The first recipient of the J&J vaccination shot in Pretoria, Dr Ornica Khobo-Mpe said it is everyone’s right to ask questions about the vaccine – but trials and science will deliver the answers.
The Johnson & Johnson candidate, which has shown very promising results against the COVID-19 variant that was first identified in South Africa, was now being rolled out in all provinces.
President Cyril Ramaphosa was among the first group of people to be vaccinated with the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in Khayelitsha on Wednesday.
Health care workers and politicians, including President Cyril Ramaphosa and Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, were among the first South Africans to be given the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine on 17 February.
