Permission has been granted to the department of health by South Africa’s regulator, to distribute the Covid-19 vaccine that is manufactured by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. This was reported by Businesstech News.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority has recognised the national Department of Health as a supplier of the Serum Institute of India Covid-19 vaccine, the Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize, said in a statement on Friday.
South Africa has reached an agreement with the Serum Institute to purchase and import the country’s first batch of Covid-19 vaccines. The government says it plans to inoculate a third of the country by the end of 2021.
1.5 million doses have been procured from the Serum Institute, which is manufacturing the version of the vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. This initial batch of 1.5 million doses will be reserved for healthcare workers. Discussions with other manufacturers are still ongoing to secure further supplies of the Covid-19 vaccine, said Mkhize.
In a statement released on Friday the health ministry said ”We will, in the next coming days, engage with the public in order to give an update on the progress of the first batch of the vaccines that we committed would be received in the first quarter.
At this stage we would like to assure South Africans that all is on track. We are working closely with all relevant stakeholders to ensure a smooth implementation of the vaccine roll-out program.”