South Africa to revise its Covid-19 vaccination strategy
The Department of Health says it has revised its Covid-19 vaccination strategy to ensure the mass roll out is more effective and in line with the country’s expectations.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize released a statement on Tuesday evening, saying urgent consultations will get underway before the final programme is rolled out.
“We have also continued to engage stakeholders across all sectors to sensitise ourselves to the needs of various communities. Upon deeper inspection and reflection, the Department of Health has worked on a revised strategy to ensure that the vaccination campaign targets the most pressing public health and economic relief that vaccination should achieve. These revisions will require extensive yet urgent consultation to ensure that the final programme expresses the will of the people,” reads the statement.
He says the details of the revised vaccination programme will be announced once the consultations have been finalised.
Mkhize says that the country is currently preparing for its mass vaccination efforts, in the next phase of the rollout program.
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An agreement with Pfizer for 20 million doses of the vaccine has been signed with the final batch of Johnson and Johnson vaccines expected to make landfall in the country this weekend.
“We are pleased to confirm that the Pfizer Agreement for 20 million doses of vaccines has been signed and that payment processes are underway to close the deal in the next few days,” says Mkhize.
“In addition we can also confirm that the final tranche of 200 000 Johnson and Johnson doses for the Sisonke Protocol is expected to arrive on 10 April 2021. These doses will take us to the last mile of the Sisonke Protocol, which is set to become one of the most seminal studies in the history of the pandemic.”
Another implementation study with a limited number of Pfizer doses that will be used amongst health care workers will soon be conducted.
“We call on the first group of eligible citizens to register on the Electronic Vaccination System,” adds Mkhize.
