In about two weeks, SA is expected to begin rolling out its much-awaited Covid-19 mass vaccination to the general public after the first batch of Pfizer vaccines landed in the country at the weekend.
This is according to Business For SA (B4SA), a pact made of big SA businesses which is assisting the government on the vaccine rollout.
This comes as the first batch of 325,260 doses of Pfizer vaccines landed at OR Tambo International Airport on Sunday evening with samples thereof sent to the National Control Laboratory in Bloemfontein, Free State, for quality assurance check before being distributed across different provinces, according to the department of health.
Martin Kingston, chair of B4SA's steering committee, said they expected around 350,000 Pfizer vaccines to be delivered in SA every week for the next three weeks before the weekly deliveries rise to 700,000.
Kingston said the rollout plan aims to inoculate around 250,000 to 300,000 people per day once it gets into full swing, but they expected to start around mid-May with around 1.3 million vaccine doses from Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson (J&J).
"There's another 900,000 J&J vaccines that will come at the end of the month... that's why B4SA has been emphasising the need for those who are over 60 to register on the electronic vaccination data system," Kingston said.
The J&J vaccines are being produced at an Aspen manufacturing facility in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape. Between April 28 and yesterday, SA had been recording daily Covid-19 infections of more than 1,000.
"We are absolutely clear that the over 60s need to be vaccinated as quickly as possible from the middle of May... there's approximately over 5.5milion people over the age of 60," Kingston said.
He said B4SA is now very confident of the rollout plan hitting the ground in speed because vaccines have started arriving.
"We are confident that from mid-May we will vaccinate as many people as possible, it will obviously take time to get to full capacity," Kingston said.
Wits University professor of vaccinology Prof Shabir Madhi said it's "absolutely essential" we start with vaccination of the general public as soon as possible.
Madhi said his concern is that with weekly arrivals of the vaccine that may end up causing disruptions with the vaccination plans.
"There is already an increasing [Covid-19] activity in the Northern Cape, North West, Limpopo and possibly is also starting in Gauteng," Madhi said.
He said ensuring urgent vaccination of high-risk groups should be a non-negotiable.
"Whether timing will be able to mitigate severe consequences of an impending wave will depend on timing of the wave in relation to how soon we can get high-risk individuals vaccinated," Madhi said.
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