South Africa plans to buy Russia\u2019s Sputnik V vaccines and shots developed by China\u2019s Sinopharm Group as it steps up efforts to tackle the coronavirus.<\/p>\n
The government will order 10 million doses of each shot, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told lawmakers in Cape Town on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are doing this now because we do expect the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority to approve those vaccines,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
South Africa, the nation that\u2019s been hardest hit by the pandemic on the continent, resumed its administration of Johnson & Johnson vaccines to healthcare workers on Wednesday, after putting their use on hold for two weeks due to concerns that they could be linked to blood clots.<\/p>\n
Almost 1.58 million Covid-19 cases have been detected in South Africa and more than 54,000 of those diagnosed with the disease have died.<\/p>\n
The single-dose J&J shots were given to 292,623 health workers as part of a drug trial that enabled normal regulatory procedures to be bypassed prior to their use being paused. The vaccine has since been approved for general usage.<\/p>\n
Earlier\u00a0this week, the Health Ministry said sufficient vaccines had been secured for 45 million adults, with a first batch of 1.1 million of J&J shots that were produced at an Aspen Pharmacare Holdings plant in the Eastern Cape province due to be dispatched in coming days.<\/p>\n
Shots developed by Pfizer and BioNTech have also been secured.<\/p>\n
The purchase of the J&J vaccines \u201chas been completed and we are just finalizing some audit issues,\u201d Mkhize said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Plans are in place to inoculate 16.5 million people from May to October with the aid of private health-care providers, which will buy shots from the national government, he said.<\/p>\n