SA’s vaccination campaign was dealt a blow in early February when it put on hold a plan to start inoculations with AstraZeneca’s vaccine. A small research study showed AstraZeneca’s shot offered minimal protection against mild to moderate Covid-19 caused by the dominant local coronavirus variant.
The government switched to using the J&J shot in a research study to start protecting front-line health-care workers. So far it has vaccinated roughly 260,000 out of 1.25 million health workers, according to health ministry data.
J&J aims to supply 2.8 million doses to SA in the second quarter, it said.
Sahpra told TimesLIVE it would soon issue a statement on its website.