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The government says the $ 18 million dose will be distributed to several countries next year.
The South African government says it will provide two million doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to other African countries to boost the continent’s vaccines.
Doses worth approximately $ 18 million will be produced at the Aspen Pharmacare manufacturing facility in Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth, and will be distributed to several African countries next year, according to a note released on Friday.
“This donation expresses our solidarity with our brothers and sisters on the continent in the face of an unprecedented threat to public health and economic prosperity in South Africa,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement.
“The only way to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 and protect our continent’s economy and society is to protect a critical mass of the African population with safe and effective vaccines,” Ramaphosa added.
The 69-year-old president tested positive for COVID-19 on December 12 and has since been isolated at the official headquarters in Cape Town, under treatment by the South African military health service.
In another statement on Friday, his office said Ramaphosa was “making good progress while recovering from COVID-19 while continuing to treat mild symptoms.”
Ramaphosa is “in a good mood and comfortable to heal,” the statement added.
The least embedded continent in the world
South Africa’s donation will add to the more than 100 million doses of vaccine given to the African Union Vaccine Trust Board. The African vaccination team has also purchased 500 million doses to distribute to countries across the continent.
Africa remains the least embedded continent in the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) says Africa may not achieve its goal of vaccinating 70 percent of its 1.3 billion people by the second half of 2024.
Only 20 out of 54 African countries have fully vaccinated 10 percent of their populations against COVID-19. Less than two percent of the African population is fully vaccinated, according to the WHO.
South Africa is battling a coronavirus-induced recovery from the Omicron variant.
It recorded 24,785 new infections and 36 deaths in the last 24-hour reporting cycle. The seven-day average of new daily cases has risen over the past two weeks, from 8.59 new cases per 100,000 people on December 2 to 39.11 new cases per 100,000 people on December 16.
More than 78 percent of new cases are of the Omicron variant, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said in a speech Friday.
As a result of COVID-19, hospitalizations and deaths have increased slightly, but not at rates comparable to the sharp upward curve of new cases, health experts said.
South African scientists say the data analysis suggests that the Pfizer vaccine offers less protection against Omicron infection and less protection from hospitalization, but still good.
Although the number of COVID-19 cases has increased, the government has not announced any increase in the restrictions.
Unlike many other African countries, South Africa now has adequate vaccine doses, estimated at 19 million, but the number of people vaccinated has slowed dramatically. Only 12,500 shots were fired on Thursday, according to official figures, less than the average of about 120,000 a day in November.
According to official statistics, more than 15 million South Africans are fully integrated, representing 38 per cent of the adult population.
“We are deeply concerned about the dramatic decline in vaccination, especially in the last seven to 10 days,” Phaahla said at the meeting, urging South Africans to be vaccinated before the holidays. “Before Jab!” said Phaahla.
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