South Africa Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Set To Arrive On 1 February
South Africa is set to receive its first shipment of the Covid-19 vaccine today, (Monday 1 February).
The country is getting 1 million shots of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which was mass produced in India.
The South African government shared the news on their social media account writing
The first shipment of 1 million doses of the #OxfordAstraZeneca vaccine from the @SerumInstIndia is on the way to @ortambo_int
The shipment left the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai today and will arrive in South Africa on 1 February 2021.
#COVID19
The first round of vaccinations will see healthcare workers getting inoculated first, over a period of 3 months. The second batch of 500,000 shots is scheduled to arrive later in February.
The South African government was criticized by the opposition for taking too long to access the vaccine, however Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize called the arrival of the vaccines from the Serum Institute of India “a massive achievement of unprecedented proportions”.
The AstraZeneca vaccines will undergo quality checks, which are going to take between 10 and 14 days, then the distribution will start.
After the healthcare workers, government is prioritizing other high-risk groups such as the elderly, people with comorbidities, essential workers such as taxi drivers, police and teachers and the third phase will be given to people over the age of 18.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was developed by the University of Oxford and Swedish pharmaceutical company.
The South African government said it chose to go with AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine as “it is the one that was immediately available”.
Some countries have opted to go with the American produced Pfizer-BioNTech, while some are going for the Moderna vaccine.
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