J&J to ramp up Covid jab manufacturing after contamination
President Cyril Ramaphosa says pharmaceutical company Aspen has vowed to start manufacturing Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccines afresh.
Two million J&J jabs, already packaged at the company's plant in the Eastern Cape, have had to be disposed of.
It's after the US Food and Drug Administration said some doses of the J&J shot made at a plant in Baltimore weren't usable due to possible contamination.
"I spoke to the CEO of Aspen and he said they are going to start all over again with another batch they should be able to gear up their manufacturing capacity.
"But J&J should be able to get up and going, the CEO of Aspen told me that by the middle of the week they will be able to have started and manufactured quite a number of vaccines which will be made available not only for South Africa but also the African continent,” Ramphosa said.
READ: Covid-19 active cases breach 80 000 mark in SA
The president addressed the media on the conclusion of his participation at the G7 Leaders' Summit in the UK on Sunday.
He again called for an end to vaccine inequality, saying only 2-percent of the population in Africa have been vaccinated against Covid-19, compared to higher percentages in northern countries.
"The vaccine nationalism, because we are dealing with a global pandemic, we are pleased to say that the G7 countries have committed quite a lot of support and assistance in the form of making vaccines available and i some cases allowing exports to go to African countries and in deed other parts of the world."
