JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa expects the flight carrying its first 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to arrive on Feb. 1, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Wednesday.
The AstraZeneca shots are being produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and are destined for the country’s frontline healthcare workers.
South Africa has recorded the most coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths on the African continent, at more than 1.4 million cases and over 41,000 deaths to date.
Mkhize said that after the 1 million doses arrive at the OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg they would be subject to technical processes including quality assurance over a minimum of 10 days and a maximum of 14 days.
After that, they can be distributed to all provinces, Mkhize added. South Africa expects to receive a further 500,000 doses from the SII in February, also for its healthcare workers.
Later in the year, it stands to receive around 12 million doses from the COVAX global vaccine distribution scheme, co-led by the World Health Organization, another 12 million from an African Union arrangement, and 9 million from Johnson & Johnson.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Mfuneko Toyana and Barbara Lewis)
