President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a new Johnson & Johnson deal that will see South Africa getting at least 30 million COVID-19 vaccines, reports said on Monday.
According to IOL, Ramaphosa said South Africa will now have access to 30 million J&J vaccines, while over 200 million doses will be produced for Africa.
He said the J&J signed off the deal with Aspen on Sunday.
“We are pleased with the outcome of that intervention. An intervention that has led to J&J finally saying “yes” and signing that they will make 220 million vaccines for the entire continent of Africa for starters,” eNCA quoted Ramaphosa as saying.
“We anticipate it will build up to even more. Then, in South Africa, we will have 30 million vaccines. I impressed on them that I want them now, I don’t want them much later than now. We are here, therefore, to come and fetch our vaccines,” he said.
Ramaphosa said pressure had been applied to COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to ensure that the country received the doses it needed as fast as possible, a report by EWN said.
The globe is racing against time to bring the pandemic, which has claimed more than 2.7 million lives, under control.
“We intervened to put a bit of a push on the Johnson and Johnson people and said, ‘we need you to finalise the full commitment to South Africa and the rest of the continent,” Ramaphosa said.
Picture: Cape Town etc gallery