Zweli Mkhize confirms 1 million Covid-19 vaccines en route to SA
- South Africa will be receiving one million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine from the Serum Institute of India
- Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize revealed this in Parliament on Thursday afternoon
- A further 500 000 doses are expected to arrive later this month according to the Minister
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Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has announced that the nation will be receiving one million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine from the Serum Institute of India during the course of this month.
Source: Getty Images
Mkhize revealed this in his closing comments during a briefing to Parliament's Health Portfolio Committee on Thursday afternoon:
"We will be receiving the first one million doses of vaccine in January and another 500 000 in February from the Serum Institute of India. As recently as Wednesday, our teams at the Department of Health and the South African Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority were finetuning and aligning all the regulations, processes to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays or regulatory impediments to activate this rollout."
Mkhize gave an undertaking that the state will be prioritising healthcare workers in a bid to ensure that they are protected by February:
"At the time, I could not disclose further details. Today I am pleased to announce that the Serum Institute of India has given us permission to make public an announcement and start engaging the relevant stakeholders in preparation for the rollout."
Mkhize state that, as a nation, an estimated 1.25 million health workers in both the public and private sectors, will need to be prioritised.
Earlier, Briefly.co.za reported that ANC councillor Sifiso Mngadi has earned himself some trouble after claiming that Covid-19 doesn't exist and that 5G cellphone towers are killing people.
Despite claiming that the virus doesn't exist, the eThekwini councillor claims white citizens have already been vaccinated:
“As leaders of eThekwini we need to take action against this disease. It is not Covid. We are getting this thing from 5G towers, [some] installed during this period in preparation of the second wave."
“White people were vaccinated about five months ago. There was a truck that distributed the vaccine in boxes and white people from all over the province, including places like Ixopo and Vryheid, went there to receive these boxes. It was given to white people only.”
The councillor insists that disconnecting the towers would solve the problem, continuing to encourage people to stop waiting for Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize or President Cyril Ramaphosa to take action.
KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala has strongly condemned '5G conspiracies', encouraging citizens to educate themselves on Covid-19 instead.
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Source: Briefly News
