South Africa Secures 30 Million J&J Covid19 Vaccines Produced by April
- Around 30 million Covid-19 vaccines have been secured by the country which will be ready by April
- The vaccine roll-out programme will begin in the same month after the production and exporting
- President Cyril Ramaphosa revealed the news after visiting the Aspen facility based in Gqeberha
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President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the Aspen Pharmacare manufacturing facility in Gqeberha. The facility will reportedly produce around 30 million vaccine doses for South Africa next month with roll-out expected in the same month.
Ramaphosa also said that Johnson & Johnson committed to the aforementioned 30 million vaccines for South Africa out of 220 million that will be exported across the continent. Ramaphosa along with Deputy President David Mabuza and others visited the facility to evaluate the vaccine production.
Aspen has collaborated with J&J to find the volume required for the manufacturing of the Covid-19 vaccine in Gqeberha. Reports say that the facility has technologically advanced equipment that can be used to manufacture vaccines and others.
Source: Getty Images
According to SABC News, Ramaphosa stated that he is happy with the progress made adding that Aspen belongs to 'us' as a country. Ramaphosa stated that the facility is making 'life-saving' vaccines. The president stated that the vaccines must not only be for SA but for the rest of Africa.
The report continued by saying that the facility is able to produce 300 million vaccine doses after Aspen invested over R300 billion.
eNCA reported that Ramaphosa referred to a 'vaccine apartheid'. The president believes that everyone should be treated equally. Ramaphosa called on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to abandon restrictions on countries that can manufacture vaccines and allow them to do so.
In other news about Covid-19 vaccines, Briefly.co.za recently reported that coronavirus protocols are still advised after receiving the jab. A team of investigators gathered data surrounding the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
According to the study post by the New England Journal of Medicine, the chances of contracting Covid-19 after these vaccines are higher.
Studies showed that out of 36 659 health care workers who received the first dose of vaccine, and 28 184 who received the second dose of the vaccine, 379 tested positive after the first dose and 37 tested positive after the second.
The researcher did reveal that 14 days after receiving the vaccine the risk of contracting the virus was far lower.
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Source: Briefly News
