India-Made Covishied Vaccine Reaches South Africa
South Africa has received its first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, Covishield made by India. Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa President and other top officials were present at the OR Tambo international airport at the time of vaccine arrival to receive 1 million shots of the novel coronavirus vaccine, Covishield. Covishield is the Indian version of the AstraZeneca-Oxford covid vaccine, produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII).
Ramaphosa is delighted to receive the first Covishield doses. It must be noted that Ramaphosa's government had received criticism from some scientists and health workers for securing access to vaccines beforehand. The number of covid-19 infection cases and deaths in South Africa are more than 1.4 million and 44,000 till date. The Covishield shots received will be checked over roughly 10 to 14 days before the vaccination procedure starts.
The Serum Institute of India will be sending another batch of 500,000 doses later in February to cover 1.25 million health workers in South Africa.
According to officials, South Africa has secured more than 50 million Covid-19 vaccine doses by means of COVAX vaccine distribution scheme, which is co-led by the WHO and an African Union (AU) arrangement. While South Africa received its coronavirus doses from India, other African countries are more dependent on COVAX or the AU for vaccines.
It must be noted that COVAX and the AU arrangement are all set to deliver their first lot of novel coronavirus vaccine shots in March, 2021. On the other hand, shots developed by Pfizer and BioNTech could start arriving around March, however, the arrival time of 9 million promised by Johnson & Johnson doses is not yet clear.
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Disclaimer: This article is issued in the general public interest and meant for general information purposes only. Readers are advised not to rely on the contents of the article as conclusive in nature and should research further or consult an expert in this regard.
