The South African government on Tuesday said it is planning to share the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID vaccine with other African nations via the African Union (AU), reported CGTN Africa.
The health authorities halted the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in South Africa after a study found the vaccine had little impact on mild infections caused by a variant of the coronavirus first detected in the country late last year.
“The doses we purchased have been offered to the African Union to distribute to those countries who have already expressed interest in acquiring the stock,” South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said at the parliament during the state of the nation address debate. “There will be no wasteful and fruitless expenditure.”
South Africa had acquired a million doses of the vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India and was set to receive an additional 500,000 doses.
Mkhize confirmed that the reports that claimed the vaccine shots had expired and will be returned to India were completely false. He ensured that the government will recover the money spent on the AstraZeneca dose and no money will be wasted.
The AU has collected some 270 million doses of anti-COVID vaccine for the African continent through its African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT). Last week, the AU said it would not stop collecting the AstraZeneca formula. It has appealed to countries where the South African variant has not been detected to continue with the vaccine rollout.
South Africa has for the time being settled for the yet-to-be-approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine, securing nine million doses, including 80,000 expected to be delivered later this week. The vaccination is due to begin this week.
The health minister added that more 500,000 doses will arrive over the next four weeks, and another 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to arrive at the end of March 2021.
