SA reaches first Covid vaccine milestone ahead of schedule

South Africa has reached a it's first milestone in it's Covid-19 vaccination drive ahead of schedule. 

According to the Department of Health (DoH)'s Popo Maja, vaccinating 63,648 patient-facing healthcare workers in the public and private sector in just over a week means the DoH is outperforming it's original targets for the number of vaccines to be administered. 

On Saturday morning, South Africa received an additional boost to it's vaccination efforts with the arrival of a second batch of Johnson and Johnson jabs. 

 "The rapid rollout of the vaccine to healthcare workers is a critical first step in the three-phase national vaccination roll out plan," says Maja. 

"In just under one week, the Sisonke Programme has set up 18 vaccination sites from scratch, developed and implemented complex logistics (including cold chain management, distribution of vaccines, vial filling), trained additional vaccinators, set up an online electronic registration system and ensured the safe and timely vaccination of tens of thousands of healthcare workers," he noted.

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On Tuesday Johnson and Johnson (JnJ) filed an updated set of trial results with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for review, taking into account additional follow-up time for people enrolled in the trials. 

"South Africa welcomes the news that the single dose JnJ vaccine is even more efficacious than previously expected with a 64% efficacy rate at preventing the more contagious 501Y.V2 variant," said Maja. 

"We further welcome the news that the expert panel at the FDA unanimously recommended the vaccine for approval last night. FDA approval of the single dose JnJ vaccine for general use is expected this weekend, paving the wave for similar approval by SAHPRA in a few weeks. Until then, the early access JnJ vaccine will continue to be provided through the Sisonke partnership between government and the South African MRC."

According to Maja, demand for the early access JnJ vaccine continues to increase. 

"The Department of Health, the Sisonke Programme team and private sector partners are encouraged by the turnout of colleagues at vaccination sites. Healthcare workers are demonstrating vaccine confidence and trust in the system. We welcome and applaud this effort, and appeal to healthcare workers to practice patience as we continue to scale up the roll out of this unprecedented life-saving national effort to colleagues who have been at the frontlines of the battle against Covid-19," he said. 

He noted that the original Sisonke Programme targets were set using best practice implementation science and modelled on projections of likely demand based on available data. 

"Real life rollout has shown that demand from healthcare workers is in excess of original estimates," said Maja. 

"In order to ensure the quickest and most efficient rollout possible, the rollout will be adjusted so that the selection of new and additional vaccination sites will start early next week, ahead of schedule. This will occur in consultation with provinces and will seek to extend the programme outside major centres."