Sahpra calls for vigilance from healthcare workers as country resumes J&J vaccination drive
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) has called for vaccinated healthcare workers to be on the lookout for adverse reactions to the Johnson & Johnson jabs.
The country resumed the Sisonke vaccination programme on Wednesday after it was suspended last month over safety concerns.
South African health authorities followed suite when United States regulators recommend a pause in the use of the vaccine over blood clot fears.
Close to 300 000 of the country’s frontliners have been inoculated.
“If it’s not up and running today at all of the sites then I’m very much hoping that it will be up and running tomorrow,” said Sahpra chairperson Helen Rees.
Despite the concerns, Rees assured no cases of the rare clotting had been reported in the country so far.
“There’ve been no cases of this rare combination of thrombosis with low platelets. This is an unusual combination of conditions. There have been no cases of that.
“There have been cases of thrombosis in the 300 000 odd health workers and in which case there were not many of them and these were associated with other pre-existing problems such as high blood pressure and so on.
“We are monitoring very closely,” she added.
Rees further called for healthcare workers to immediately report any worrying symptoms.
“Because there have been the rare cases of thrombosis that have been noted, people who receive the vaccine will be informed this and that will be part of the informed consent so that they understand.
“In addition, we’ll be telling people about the possible symptoms of this.”
Listen to Professor Helen Rees below:
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