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South Africa Receives First COVID Vaccine Shipment

Anita Powell

   JOHANNESBURG - On an unusually dreary Johannesburg day, a figurative
   ray of sunshine: the arrival of the first pallets of coronavirus
   vaccines that will, in about two weeks, begin making their way into the
   arms of South Africans.

   President Cyril Ramaphosa and other dignitaries stood on the tarmac,
   masked and under dark umbrellas in the driving rain, as the Emirates
   flight carrying the first vaccine shipment landed at Johannesburg's OR
   Tambo International Airport Monday afternoon. This shipment of the
   AstraZeneca vaccine was purchased from an Indian manufacturer,
   officials said.

   Ramaphosa did not speak to the public, but in a statement, said, "The
   scale of delivery is unprecedented in terms of the number of people who
   have to be reached within a short space of time."

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