The health ministry of South Africa addressed the media and said that it has ended the sale of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccinations it had acquired but did not use to other African union member states. South Africa concluded this decision after data showed that the AstraZeneca vaccine provided only minimal protection against mild-to-moderate infection caused by the country’s dominant corona variant.
Previously, South Africa had received one million AstraZeneca doses from Serum Institute of India (SII) and the delivery of 500,000 doses was pending. The ministry told the media that it’s been operating to confirm that every one of the member states known by the AU vaccines acquisitions groups as recipients of the vaccines was compliant. They conjointly ensured that all of them had obtained regulative approvals, permits and licences to roll out the vaccines in their respective countries.
The statement aforesaid, “The ministry will ensure that the total purchase quantity was received by the department. The primary batch of vaccines that were delivered is going to benefit nine member states and also the balance can be collected and delivered to 5 other member states.”
It is to notice that the statement failed to mention the costs nor the name of the countries that had purchased the vaccines. South Africa, once closing the AstraZeneca vaccine, started immunizing frontline workers with Johnson & Johnson shots during a research study. The government aims to inoculate 40 million individuals to reach a level of herd immunity.