Vaccines to undergo maximum 14 day quarantine period before distribution – Mkhize

After a long wait, watching while millions of people around the world received their various vaccinations against the novel coronavirus, a million doses of the Oxford University developed AstraZeneca vaccine will finally land in South Africa on 1 February.

However, Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, said it would be between 10 and 14 days before the vaccine left quarantine, as specified by law.

There would also be quality assurance, reconciliation of the number of vials, a check to see if any were broken in the transit from India, which were all necessary for the safe distribution of the vaccine.

Once all the processes were completed, Mkhize said the vaccines would be ready to distribute to all the provinces.

“The national vaccination campaign is a government led initiative, necessarily supported by other sectors such as civil society, the unions, and the private sector,” Mkhize said last night.

He noted it was hoped SA would achieve population immunity through vaccination by the end of the year.

Mkhize said Treasury had put its “full weight and support” behind the programme.

“They have granted us all the necessary deviations we requested and committed to financing additional orders,” Mkhize said.

The Department of Health had made a direct application to the South African Health Professional Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) for section 21 approval to supply the Serum Institute of India manufactured under licence of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“This approval was granted,” Mkhize said.

Approval and a waiving of a 30 day consultation period of the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) regulations, pertaining to the import of GMO foods, was also sought, and obtained, from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development.

“This is in line with the requirements of urgency under the disaster management situation,” said Mkhize.

“We are therefore pleased from a regulatory standpoint we are cleared to move ahead with the rollout of the vaccine and the mass inoculation campaign.”

Sahpra, which had finally approved limited “compassionate” use of ivermectin for use against Covid-19, noted an application had also been received from Pfizer for its vaccine.

Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news

Dear reader,
As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.
Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).