Covid-19 vaccine: you should be immune by day 17, says SA’s top doctor
The first vaccinations are being rolled out to frontline health workers, and South Africans are looking forward to more vaccines being delivered in the next couple of weeks. Izak du Plessis spoke to two experts about the procurement and distribution challenges.
South Africa’s vaccination programme against Covid-19 is underway after the arrival of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, replacing the AstraZeneca which was found not to be efficient against the South African strain of the virus. This turn of events was a big setback to South Africa’s already poorly planned vaccination programme.
Fortunately, the CEO and president of the South African Medical Research Council, prof. Glenda Gray, came to the rescue.
Prof. Gray managed to get the replacement vaccination based on her participation in the research that is being done for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Izak du Plessis talked to her about her role in the procurement of the first batch.
He also asked her how effective the vaccine will be and when immunity can be expected.
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Although South Africans can look forward to more vaccines and a better-coordinated roll-out programme, there are still a lot of challenges ahead in the fight against the virus, says Mr. Albert Wessels, executive of the Zero Group, who manufactures cold chain appliances such as cold boxes used to store vaccines.
One of the biggest challenges in South Africa is the adherence to the cold chain, according to Wessels.
Delivering vaccines to all corners of the world is a complex undertaking. It takes a chain of precisely coordinated events in temperature-controlled environments to store, manage and transport these life-saving products. Although the packaging of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine makes the process easier to control, the cold chain still presents all kinds of challenges in South Africa, especially when you’re trying to reach remote or rural communities or places where electricity is unreliable, says Wessels.
Storage and transport equipment such as cold rooms, refrigerators, freezers, cold boxes and vaccine carriers must comply with performance standards defined by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Stock management procedures must also follow WHO guidelines specific to each type of vaccine. Stray outside the prescribed temperature limits and the result will be a lot of discarded vaccine. Izak du Plessis spoke to Wessels and compiled this report.
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