First consignment of 80 000 Johnson & Johnson vaccines ‘a drop in the ocean’ - Denosa
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) has welcomed the news that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is set to arrive in the country on Tuesday.
The union's spokesperson Sibongiseni Delihlazo says they hopes the vaccine won't have the same issues as AstraZeneca.
South Africa was forced to halt the rollout of the after a small local study found that it provided minimal protection against mild to moderate Covid-19 in patients infected with the variant first identified in South Africa.
"But it is only 80 000 doses arriving and we have 1.25 million healthcare workers in the country. Therefore it is a drop in the ocean.
"We do understand that in the next few weeks we will be getting 500 000, but we hope that the process of administering this gets expedited because we cannot wait a day longer for the vaccination of healthcare workers.”
Phase one of government’s vaccination campaign will target frontline healthcare workers.
It is expected to start on Wednesday or Thursday, according to the South African Medical Association (SAMA).
