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Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, said government's phased roll-out of the vaccine programme would commence in the middle of February.
Addressing a media briefing on Wednesday, he said however that this would be the Johnson and Johnson vaccine which has proved to be effective against the Covid19 501Y.V2 variant of the coronavirus found in South Africa.
He said the vaccination programme is a priority in the fight against the spread of Covid19.
Mkhize says more research is required on the ineffective Astra Zeneca vaccine which was received from the Serum Institute of India.
The Health Minister said the Johnson and Johnson vaccine would be administered during Phase 1 of the roll-out which targets 1.2 million frontline healthcare workers.
"The Johnson and Johnson vaccine has been approved for study use in South Africa and will be rolled out to healthcare workers as part of a research project," he said.
Mkhize said the government has also secured vaccine doses from Pfizer for phase one and is continuing to engage other manufacturers to secure more doses.
