Govt hoping to vaccinate 1.1 million by end-March, Mkhize tells MPs
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has told the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) that government hopes to inoculate 1,1 million people by the end of March.
Mkhize detailed the vaccine roll-out plan in the NCOP on Thursday.
He told MPs that more than 32,000 frontline healthcare workers were vaccinated by Thursday.
Over the next few weeks South Africa will receive 500 000 doses from Johnson & Johnson and another 600 000 from Pfizer.
"It will be able to get over 1,1 million people vaccinated between now and hopefully the end of March,” he said.
"That process is going to ensure that all the health workers either get the one dose or the first dose, which means we will have about two to three months to get to give them a booster dose.”
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Mkhize said bigger consignments will start trickling in from April onwards.
Mkhize warned that the goalposts may have to shift when it comes to the number needed to reach herd immunity.
"We need to reach at least 40 million people and as we go on with our discussion it does appear that we may have to do more than 40 million people."
Mkhize also called on political leaders to not politicise the vaccine roll-out programme.
