By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South Africa will launch phase two of its vaccine rollout on Monday with the aim of inoculating five million citizens aged over 60 by the end of June, its health minister said.
“This is provided that the supply of vaccines flows as anticipated. By the end of June we expect to have received 4.5 million doses of Pfizer and 2 million doses from Johnson & Johnson,” the minister, Zweli Mkhize, said during a webinar on Sunday.
Mkhize said that more than 325,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine would arrive at midnight on Sunday, bringing the total of Pfizer doses up to 975,780.
So far South Africa has ordered enough COVID-19 vaccines for 46 million of its 60 million population.
The health minister said the country was still awaiting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to be released by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after its administration was paused and then restarted two weeks later due to concerns over blood clots.
South Africa is Africa’s worst-hit country in terms of infections and fatalities, with over 55,000 deaths and more than 1.6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Fears of a third wave of the coronavirus have surfaced in recent weeks following the detection of two new variants in the country originating from India and the United Kingdom, as well as the slow rollout of vaccines.
The health minister said just under 480,000 health care workers had been vaccinated in the first phase, out of a target of 1.2 million.
The total number of confirmed COVID19 cases is 1 613 728 the total number of deaths is 55 210 the total number of recoveries is 1 524 352 and the total number of vaccines administered is 478 733, as of Sunday (16th of May).
The number of tests conducted to date is 11 115 048. Of these 27 543 tests were conducted since the last report.
By end June the Department of Health expect to have received 4,5 million doses of Pfizer and, 2 million doses of JnJ once released. The JnJ vaccine is still awaiting release from the Food and Drug Administration of America and the department is constantly being updated by the JnJ global head office on progress in this regard.
As a reminder, there are now 5 ways ways to register on EVDS:
1. online at https://vaccine.enroll.health.gov.za/
2. using the whatsapp line 0600 123456
3. by sms- dial *134*832#
4. call the COVID-19 hotline 0800 029 999
5. You can use the new QR- simply scan and follow the prompts. The QR code will be published widely and can be found on sacoronavirus website or the National Department of Health Website.
All services are zero rated- that is you don’t need airtime, data or money to use the services.
When you have finished your vaccination course, you will receive an SMS indicating that you have been vaccinated as well as a vaccination card. Keep a record of your EVDS vaccination number.