Mkhize: Second tranche of J&J Covid-19 vaccines set to arrive in SA on Saturday

Another batch of 80,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccines is expected to land in South Africa this weekend.

Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize made the announcement in Parliament on Tuesday afternoon as the country's phase one vaccine rollout gathers steam.

Mkhize told members of Parliament that at least 23,000 healthcare workers have so far been inoculated.

He revealed that the number is expected to rise to 40,000 by Wednesday.

The minister says there have been almost 500,000 registrations on the registration portal for healthcare workers, known as the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS) platform.

To date there have been almost 500,000 registrations on the
EVDS system.

— Dr Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) February 23, 2021

South Africa is still in the first phase of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout which is aimed at the country's healthcare workers.

The Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine has been made available to South Africa's healthcare workers as part of an ongoing clinical study after the government ditched the AstraZeneca jab due to efficacy concerns.

A week ago, the country received the first batch of 80,000 Johnson & Johnson doses.

Evidence shows that in South Africa, healthcare workers are three to four 4 times more likely than the general population to contract Covid-19.

Approximately 54,685 health workers have been infected in the public sector, with 779 having passed on.

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