‘I’m still Zoliswa, no side-effects’ after jab
South Africa launched its Covid-19 vaccination drive on Wednesday, battling to tame a more infectious variant of the coronavirus with a roll-out of the Johnson & Johnson shot for the first time outside a major clinical trial.
“I actually feel blessed, you know, after all our hard work and effort in the first and second wave that we finally have another layer of protection, another tool in the fight against Covid-19,” said emergency physician Sa’ad Lahri, one of the first South Africans to be vaccinated.
“I am still Zoliswa, no side-effects,” said nurse Zoliswa Gidi-Dyosi, who was also inoculated at Cape Town’s Khayelitsha District Hospital, along with President Cyril Ramaphosa and Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.
SA has recorded almost half of the Covid-19 deaths and over a third of confirmed infections in all of Africa, but has lagged wealthier Western nations in launching its immunisation campaign.
The government plans to vaccinate 40 million people, or twothirds of the population.
But it suffered a setback when a small local trial showed AstraZeneca’s vaccine offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness from the 501Y.V2 virus variant dominant in the country.
Authorities have paused plans to use the vaccine and are considering selling or swapping doses they have ordered.
Instead, the J&J vaccine is being deployed as part of a research study targeting up to 500 000 healthcare workers. The US company has been submitting data to South African medicines regulator Sahpra to secure registration for a larger-scale roll-out.
Ramaphosa called the start of immunisations “a new era” and said he was confident the country would meet its vaccination targets.
“I’d like to say to all the doomsayers: let’s all have hope and faith in our system, our health workers, and let’s give them an opportunity to do what they do best.”
South Africa is one of the first African nations, along with Rwanda, Morocco and Egypt, to vaccinate against Covid-19. Zimbabwe started inoculations yesterday.