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South Africa to Begin Testing COVID-19 Vaccines'¯ Before Launching Program

VOA News

   South AfricanPresident Cyril Ramaphosa saidmedical
   regulatorswillbegintesting the integrity of the country's first batch
   of AstraZeneca vaccine againstCOVID-19before vaccinating front line
   healthcare workers.

   He made the commentduringa nationaladdresslate Monday, hours after he
   andother dignitaries accepted 1.2 million dosesof vaccinethat arrivedat
   Johannesburg'sO.R.Tambo International Airport Monday afternoon.

   President Ramaphosasaid afterhealthcare workers get their shots the
   countryaimsto vaccinateessential workers, people over 60 yearsof age,
   people with co-morbidities andthose living in places such as nursing
   homes.

   The remainder of the adult population will get their shots in the third
   phase of the vaccinationprogram.

   South Africais theAfrican nationhardest hitby the novel coronavirus,
   with more than1.4 million confirmed cases since the virus turned up in
   the country in March.

   The nation's second wave of thevirusfueledby anewvariant thatsurfaced
   in late Decemberappears to be subsiding.

   The head of South Africa's coronavirus task force,Dr. Salim Abdool
   Karim,said the current vaccines are expected to work on thenew variant,
   called 501.V2,

   Ramaphosasaid inaddition to Monday's shipmentthe country is due
   toreceiveanother 500,000doses from the Serum Institute of India next
   month.

   South Africa has also secured millions of doses of vaccine from Johnson
   & Johnson, Pfizerand the global COVAX facility, whichis a worldwide
   collaboration to speed up the development, production and access to
   COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.

   The president said South Africa will also receive an allocation of
   vaccine doses through the African Union, which has been negotiating
   with manufacturers to secure vaccines for the entire continent on a
   pooled basis.

   South Africawillnow become the fifth African nation to roll out
   vaccinations, after Morocco, Egypt, the Seychelles and Guinea.

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