Pretoria News

Moves on Chinese, Russian jabs

VAL BOJE val.boje@inl.co.za

GONE are the days of elderly people queuing in the chilly dawn in the hope of receiving a Covid-19 vaccination.

With more sites now open in the large metros, there has been an increase in the number of people over the age of 60 receiving their first dose of the Pfizer-biontech vaccine in a given time slot, leaving less availability for walk-ins.

By yesterday, more than 1.5 million people had received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine (used in phase 1 of the roll-out for health workers) or the first of the two-dose Pfizer vaccine as part of phase 2.

Still waiting to hear when registration will open for the next phase are those under 60 with co-morbidities and essential workers such as the police and teachers.

While the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority has only approved these two vaccines for general use so far, it is assessing other applications, including the Coronavac vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech in China and the Russian Sputnik V.

This week, Professor Helen Rees of Wits Centre on Vaccinology and chair of the regulator’s board, revealed the regulator had received the “dossier” from Sinovac, which was also submitted to the World Health Organization which had given emergency approval for the use of the vaccine, and that this should accelerate the process.

Bloomberg has reported that the real world study of Sinovac’s use in health workers in Indonesia, suggests that the vaccine is more effective than it proved during testing.

Sputnik, Rees told ENCA, was submitting data continuously as it became available.

Both vaccines, Rees said, were being given “priority review” but approval depended on data.

The plan is to vaccinate 67% of the South African population, or 40 million adults, by the first quarter of next year with a target of 200 000 people a day when the roll-out is in full swing.

The roll-out has been slowed by the quarantining of doses of the J&J vaccine at Aspen Pharmacare’s facility in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), while the US Food and Drug Administration investigates whether batches may have been produced with contaminated ingredients from a production plant in the US.

Gauteng, the province with the largest population, now has 110 approved vaccination sites. The majority of these are public sector sites, with about one quarter being operated by the private sector.

This includes sites managed by hospitals, pharmacies and the Discovery centre in Sandton.

To date more than 500 000 people over the age of 60 have registered in Gauteng, with more women than men receiving the Pfizer vaccine. On Wednesday, 19 285 vaccinations were given in the province, 11 362 to women.

All registrations go through the government Electronic Vaccination Data System with those registered requiring a message to confirm a time and place to go for their vaccination based on a catchment area of 10km in urban areas.

Those vaccinated are supplied with a card and unique reference number and, if administered a two-dose vaccine, must wait six weeks for the follow-up shot.

In a week in which the Minister of Health was placed on special leave, the country is battling with a third wave of infections.

On Wednesday there was an increase of 1 150 hospital admissions, with 587 of these in Gauteng.

In total, since the first case announced in March 2020, more than 1.7 million people have had a confirmed diagnosis of Covid-19 with 57 410 deaths as a result of the virus.

METRO

en-za

2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://pretorianews.pressreader.com/article/281539408900404

African News Agency