South Africa has resumed its Johnson & Johnson Sisonke vaccination trial this week, ENCA reports.
Thus far, 200 000 healthcare workers are yet to receive the Covid-19 jab with nearly 300 000 having already received it.
Pregnant and lactating women will be excluded from the Sisonke trial until more studies are conducted.
The Sisonke trial was previously halted due to concerns related to the formation of blood clots as a side effect of taking the vaccine. However, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority deemed the vaccine safe to use after data confirmed that no blood clots were experienced by any of the health workers who were already vaccinated.
This week the Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize, tweeted that the total number of Covid-19 cases in South Africa had reached 1 577 200, the total deaths reached 54 237, with recoveries totalling 1 502 986.
The Minister also indicated to the media that there have been a few cluster outbreaks of Covid-19 in the Free State, North West, and the Northern Cape, around schools, mines, and townships.
Said Mkhize: “These increases show that we’re still at risk and, therefore, we must keep using masks, social distancing more now than ever.
“The sense of complacency of people feeling that we’re fine and were without problems… we must remove that thinking because it is going to cause us an earlier surge, which we could’ve actually delayed.”