Why South Africa sells its stock of one million AstraZeneca vaccines

South Africa concluded the sale of a million doses of vaccines of AstraZeneca against the coronavirus that it had in stock, which will be distributed among fourteen member countries of the African Union (AU), as reported this Sunday by the local Ministry of Health.

In mid-February, the African country resolved stop the use of AstraZeneca vaccines” class=”com-link” data-reactroot=””>stop the use of AstraZeneca vaccines after a study indicated that the inoculation developed by Oxford scientists offered minimal protection against the local variant of coronavirus” class=”com-link” data-reactroot=””>the local variant of coronavirus. By then, South Africa had already received one million doses.

Pretoria immediately announced its intention to offer this huge batch of doses to the African Union (AU).

The holder of the South African sanitary portfolio, Zweli Mhkize announced the operation through a statement, and said: “I am pleased to announce that the sale of the AstraZeneca vaccines that we have purchased has been completed.”

According to the statement, the South African Ministry of Health worked to ensure that all member states identified by the UA vaccine procurement teams as recipients of the vaccines comply with and obtain the corresponding regulatory approvals, permits and licenses for the use of vaccines in their respective countries.

The announcement did not specify the costs of the operation nor did it detail which countries will receive the inoculations.

After having stopped the vaccination campaign, South Africa began the inoculation process with injections of Johnson&Johnson” class=”com-link” data-reactroot=””>Johnson&Johnson health workers. Government authorities plan to vaccinate two-thirds of their population to achieve some level of herd immunity.

AFP and Reuters agencies

THE NATION

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