Tuesday | February 16, 2021

After the Oxford-AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine damb squib, South Africa will, at last, begin its Covid-19 innocolution soon upon the arrival of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine.

Some 80, 000 (J&J) jabs were delivered to today, Tuesday Feb. 16, in SA and are set for distribution forthwith. This vaccine comes as great news to the health fraternity in the wake of roll-out delays.

The initial arrival of one million vaccines from AZ were found later to be less effective on the coronavirus variant found in South Africa in the final quarter of 2020. As a result of this late discovery, their distribution was halted and vaccination did not take place thereof.

It is not yet clear what is government going to happen with the less-effective AZ vaccines in SA shores. For now though, these vaccines are on hold notwithstanding their positive impact on minimizing Covid-19 severity illness and prevent of death resulting from this pandemic.

Meanwhile, the J&J batch that arrive today will be directed forthwith to vaccine health and/or frontline workers. According to studies, J&J vaccine has come up trumps in dealing with Covid-19 variants. Above all, it requires a single jab as opposed to its rivals requiring two jabs within a tentative two to six weeks period.