300 000 doses of J&J vaccines set to arrive in SA
AROUND 300 000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine will be shipped to South Africa following clearance by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The move comes after concern was identified by the FDA two weeks ago relating to non-compliance to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) at the Emergent plant in Baltimore in the US during the manufacturing of some active pharmaceutical ingredient.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) at the weekend said it reviewed the data provided by the FDA, and there are approximately 300 000 doses from batches that have been cleared by the FDA that meet the requirements and will be released and shipped to South Africa.
“Sahpra focuses on the quality, safety and efficacy of all health products, including Covid-19 vaccines and will ensure that the safety and well-being of South Africans will not be compromised in any way,” Saphra chief executive Dr Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela said.
Sahpra further noted that the authorisation is, however, subject to a number of conditions which include that the vaccine should be manufactured under conditions of GMP as determined by Sahpra and aligned with global best practice. The announcement has come as South Africa has entered its third wave of Covid-19 infections, with the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) saying the country has reached a 16.6% positivity testing rate.
It confirmed last night that there have been 59 deaths and 7 657 new cases, representing a 17.2% positivity rate. This brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 1 747 082. The majority of new cases were from the Gauteng province (64%), followed by the Western Cape (9%) and North West (7%). An increase of 632 hospital admissions and 78 in-hospital deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours. By yesterday the Western Cape had 7 796 active Covid-19 cases, with 11 957 deaths and 282159 recoveries.
A total of 252004 people have been vaccinated. Those over the age of 60 are still being vaccinated.
The process to register is quick and easy and can be done by dialling *134*832# from your phone to start the registration process or sending the word “REGISTER” to 0600 123 456 on WhatsApp, or visit http://vaccine. enroll.health.gov.za, which is also accessible from www.westerncape.gov.za.