SA secures millions more COVID-19 vaccines, find out more here
South Africa has secured 51 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
Thirty-one million of them are the Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccine - while 20 million are Pfizer/BioNTech's two-dose jab.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize made the announcement during a visit to a vaccination centre at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg.
He says phase one of the vaccine rollout, which has seen healthcare workers being inoculated as part of a trial, will wrap up next month.
"The 17th of May marks the end of phase one and therefore we will be starting phase 2 going on to the 17th of October. The second phase should take us 6 months.
He says we getting more vaccines soon.
"We are pleased to announce that Johnson and Johnson have confirmed that we will receive 1 099 200 doses this month. As such we expect that Johnson and Johnson will be in a position to deliver this batch around 22- 24 April."
He adds that J&J has expressed its intent to deliver a subsequent batch of about 900 000 doses in May and June.
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On the Pfizer jabs he says once payment is made we'll know when the vaccines will arrive. " upon conclusion Pfizer will be in a position to break down their current quarterly commitments to a finer schedule, with a committed date for the delivery of the first batch. We, therefore, expect to receive the supply schedule early next week, provided there are no unforeseen glitches in the payment process."
And on the AstraZeneca, he says Treasury has been fully refunded by the Serum Institute of India for the remaining 500 000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
