South Africa Orders 20m Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccines

By Onwuka Gerald

South Africa has procured 20 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

The country’s health minister made the disclosure to a Sunday newspaper.

A first shipment of AstraZeneca/Oxford jabs produced in India is bound to arrive on Monday, with injections expected to begin two weeks later.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize disclosed to The Sunday Times that 20 million extra covid-19 vaccines had been ordered from US drug company, Pfizer.

According to him, “The vaccines are secured and waiting for manufacturers to submit final agreements with details of delivery dates and specific amounts”.

His words, “We have capacity in academic institutions. There are now companies coming forward with storage and transit solutions”.

South Africa till date has recorded more than 1.4 million infections and almost 45,000 deaths.