South Africa to receive first Covid vaccine Monday




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CAPE TOWN – Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has announced that the first Covid-19 vaccines will arrive in South African on Monday.

Mkhize made the announcement during a live briefing on the countries vaccines roll out strategy on Wednesday evening.

A flight with the vaccines will depart India on Sunday.

“It’s a massive achievement to get our first batch of vaccines less than a year after the outbreak of the pandemic is South Africa,” said Mkhize.

The country plans to vaccinate 67% of the population, roughly 40 million people in order to achieve population immunity.

There will be a three-phased approach based on the availability of vaccines:

– Phase one: target a population of 1.25 million; front-line healthcare workers (HCW) would be first in line.

– Phase two: target population of 2 500 000: this would include police officers, miners and workers in the security, retail food, funeral, teachers, banking, essential municipal workers and home affairs, border control and port health services.

– Phase two: target population of 1 100 000: this includes people in care homes, 60 years and older, people older than 18 years with co-morbidities, detention centres, shelters and prisons. In addition, people working in the hospitality and tourism industry, and educational institutions.

– Phase three: target population of 22 500 000 – from the rest of the population.

IOL