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Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, has announced that the vaccine rollout would resume on Wednesday through the Sisonke Programme.
He said in a statement on Monday that the programme has, on hand, all the doses it needed to complete vaccinating 500 000 healthcare workers through the early access protocol.
The number of vaccination sites would also be expanded to 95 sites across the country.
"These sites will continue to vaccinate healthcare workers during phase one beyond the Sisonke Protocol. Phase one is due to end on 16 May 2021 and we remain committed to vaccinating as many of the 1.2 million healthcare workers targeted as possible, despite the unforeseen interruption to our programme," he said.
The Minister called on all healthcare workers, including traditional healers, who have not registered for vaccination to do so by going onto the website - vaccine.enroll.health.gov.za.
Mkhize reiterated that the rollout of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine was put on hold when six (now 8) patients developed a rare blot clot after being vaccinated in the USA.
"The pause was to allow scientists to guide health authorities on the potential relationship between the Johnson and Johnson vaccines and these clots so that a determination could be made if it is still safe to continue using Johnson and Johnson as a vaccine."
Mkhize said it has since been established there was a one in a million chance of getting the clot after the vaccine and that it appears that women between the ages of 18 and 48 years old are particularly at risk.
"With such a low probability of developing a clot, all the regulators across the world have recommended the continued use of Johnson and Johnson," he said.
At home, the Health Minister said that the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority has also added a requirement that all Sisonke participants need to be informed of this potential risk and therefore consent to participating in the trial with this knowledge.
