South Africa gives its supply of AstraZeneca vaccines to the African Union. The country is not using the drug itself because it would not work well against a South African corona mutation.
The vaccination campaign was suspended after it appeared that the British-Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine offers little protection against the South African virus variant.
Hopes are now pinned on the vaccine from pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson, and the first 80,000 dose delivery expected this week.
Of which 9 million doses have been ordered, that drug has yet to be approved for use. 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine will follow later. The aim is still to vaccinate 40 million people – two-thirds of the population – this year.
The country hit hard by the virus is giving its 1 million doses of AstraZeneca to other African countries. There is also an order for half a million doses in the pipeline
South Africa has reached the peak of the second wave of infection. Just over 1000 new infections were reported on Monday, where there were still 20,000 per day at the beginning of January. More than 48,000 people in the country have died from Covid-19.