Zimbabwe’s government on Wednesday approved the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, after banning it earlier as the country reports a spike in COVID-19 cases, reported Reuters.
In June, the government came under fire after it turned down the African Union’s (AU) donation of three million J&J doses citing concerns about blood clots and the government’s inability to retain the vials of injections at the proper temperature storage issues and possible side effects.
Zimbabwe’s health authorities had previously approved India’s Covaxin, China’s Sinopharm and Sinovac, and Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines for emergency use.
Zimbabwe is currently reeling through the third wave of Covid-19 infections. The health authorities had reported almost half of its cumulative 101,711 total cases and 3,280 fatalities in July. As per data collected by the country’s ministry of health, the daily coronavirus death rate hit a record high this week as cases increased.
On Wednesday, Richard Rukwata, the interim head of Zimbabwe’s Medicines Control Authority, said that the J&J drug’s usage is valid for 12 months or until the public health emergency ends.
“If additional satisfactory data needed for full registration are submitted in an application to the authority, then full marketing authorization could be granted,” Richard added.
Over 1.5 million Zimbabweans have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose so far. The total number of coronavirus cases reported in Africa crossed 6,540,892 as of Wednesday, July 28.
Last week, Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa continues to lag behind other continents as far as the COVID-19 vaccination is concerned as only about 1.5 percent of the continent’s population is fully vaccinated so far. She said African countries must speed up their vaccine rollouts by 5 to 6 times if they want to fully vaccinate the most vulnerable 10 percent of their people by the end of September.
