As expected, South Africa will receive its first batch of coronavirus vaccines in January. It has been informed by the health minister because the continent’s worst-hit country battles a record number of infections. “South Africa is going to be receiving a million doses in January and 500,000 doses in February,” Zweli Mkhize said during a statement on Thursday.
South Africa is using the vaccine made jointly by researchers at the University of Oxford and therefore the biotech firm AstraZeneca. It is seen as a possible game-changer within the global fight against the coronavirus, because it doesn’t need to be stored at the ultra-low temperatures required by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna alternatives. This could mean that they have greater access in less wealthy countries. On Wednesday, Kenya’s health minister also said the country is predicted to start out receiving 24 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine next month.
Data source: Al Jazeera
