President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged that the country’s vaccination rollout programme has experienced several delays.
During his address to the nation on Tuesday, June 15, Ramaphosa said the vaccination programme had suffered multiple setbacks.
South Africa is in the early stages of the third wave, with four of its nine provinces already seeing a rapid increase in confirmed cases.
Ramaphosa placed the country on lockdown level 3, restricting the sale of alcohol products and increasing the curfew.
“We are all aware that our vaccination programme has experienced several delays.
“Our first setback was that after the arrival of our first batch of vaccines, our scientists discovered that the AstraZeneca vaccine that we had procured from the Serum Institute of India did not provide sufficient protection against the variant that is predominant in South Africa.
Four provinces – Gauteng, Free State, North West and Northern Cape – are officially in a third wave, while others are approaching that point.https://t.co/L2hWSfT0Ra
— Cyril Ramaphosa ?? #StaySafe (@CyrilRamaphosa) June 15, 2021
“…After the AstraZeneca setback, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine appeared to be the best option for our country as it protects against the variant, because it requires only a single dose and is easier to store and transport.
“However, the supply of Johnson & Johnson vaccines was held up by an investigation into contamination of ingredients at a supplier factory in Baltimore in the United States.
“Until now, our mass vaccination programme has therefore had to rely on the Pfizer vaccine, which requires two doses,” Ramaphosa said.
He said South Africa had also been adversely affected by shortages in the global supply of vaccines, which has hampered vaccination programmes across Africa and in many other low- and middle-income countries.
He, however, said that 480 000 health workers had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to date as part of Phase One of the programme.
Pace of vaccinations
“As part of Phase Two, a further 1.5 million health workers and people over the age of 60 have received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
“This brings the total number of people who have received a vaccine dose to almost 2 million,” said Ramaphosa.
He added: “The pace of vaccinations has steadily picked up, and we are now vaccinating around 80 000 people a day at over 570 sites in the public and private sector.
“This number will grow rapidly in the weeks to come, as we aim to protect as many vulnerable people as possible.”
He said problems with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have now been resolved.
“As a result of these problems, two million doses that had already been produced are unusable.
“The Aspen plant in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape is now able to go ahead and produce new doses.
Pace of vaccinations
“The company has committed to significantly ramp up production and begin supplying the country within the next few days,” he said.
He also said South Africa has the capacity to jab more people at a faster rate.
“It is estimated that we have the capacity at present to vaccinate at least 150 000 people a day, and we are planning to increase that to 250 000 a day as soon as possible.
“I, therefore, call on every person in this country over the age of 60 to register – whether online, by SMS, by phone or in person – and get vaccinated without delay,” he said.
The president said that only 64 health care workers had contracted the virus over the past 7 days.
He compared this figure to the 640 who were infected over a 7 day period in the rise of the second wave last year.
PICTURE: Twitter
