Ramaphosa: Phase 2 vaccine drive to begin mid-May
The country's counting down to mid-May. That's when phase two of South Africa's COVID-19 vaccination drive begins.
Updating the nation on the country's response to the crisis, President Cyril Ramaphosa said last night that people identified as high risk, those over 60 and people living with co-morbidities will be prioritised.
"Under Phase 2 we hope to vaccinate more of our people over six months."
"The second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination programme aims to ensure that we will protect our communities, prevent health services from being overwhelmed and reduce the need for lockdowns."
To date, more than 250 000 health workers have received the Johnson & Johnson jab.
"We have secured 11 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which we know to be effective against the dominant variants in our country.
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We have secured a further 20 million doses and are finalising the agreement with Johnson & Johnson. We are also finalising an agreement for 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which requires two doses.
Ramaphosa says over 2 000 vaccination sites have been identified across the country.
"We are doing our best to secure enough supply for the people of South Africa and the African continent. We will ensure that we have sufficient doses of effective vaccines to reach population immunity in the shortest possible time."
