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Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has announced that South Africa would receive 1.5 million doses of a Covid19 vaccine from the Serum Institute of India.
In a statement on Thursday, Mkhize said he could not reveal details at a government briefing on 3 January as they were bound by non-disclosure agreements and confidentiality clauses.
However, he said he has since obtained permission from the Serum Institute of India to make a public statement on the agreement which would prioritise 1.25 million health workers both in the public and private sectors.
“It is for this reason that today we announce that South Africa will be receiving 1 000 000 (one million) doses in January and 500 000 (five hundred thousand) doses in February from the SII,” Minister Mkhize said.
He said as recently as Wednesday, teams from the National Department of Health and the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority were fine-tuning and aligning all the regulatory processes to ensure that there were no unnecessary delays or regulatory Impediments to activate this rollout.
“We are happy that the SII/ Astra Zeneca vaccine has already been approved by various regulators and is being rolled out in other countries. Therefore, as part of expediting the regulatory process, SAHPRA is applying reliance on that regulatory work.”
Minister Mkhize said the vaccine acquisition was done directly by the Department of Health which he said strengthened the credibility of the process “as all the negotiations and payment issues are managed directly by the government with the manufacturer.”
The Minister said the government would now be engaging all relevant stakeholders in order to ensure the efficient and effective roll-out of the vaccine for health workers.
