Healthcare workers received the  Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccination at the Ermelo Provincial Hospital on 1 March.

The first batch the province received was rolled out at Rob Ferreira Hospital in Nelspruit and Witbank Provincial Hospital.

This was the second batch for the province.

“Our tertiary hospitals have received the vaccine for the last two weeks.

“After all those vaccines were used, national (government) decided to give an additional 1 800 vaccines to those two hospitals, to make sure all the healthcare workers were vaccinated,” Mr Mandla Zwane, provincial director of communicable disease control for the Department of Social Development, said.

He said with the first batch, not all healthcare workers received vaccines and therefore additional vaccines were supplied to the two hospitals.

According to him, the second batch was received over the weekend of 27 February.

“Vaccines were escorted while being transported from an airport to the Mzansi Ethical Research Centre in Middelburg.

“The vaccines were escorted by police and transported from the Mzansi Ethical Research Centre to Ermelo Provincial Hospital,” Mr Zwane said.

Within the first two hours of the roll-out, 10 healthcare workers were vaccinated.

Read the complete article in the Highvelder Newspaper.