SOUTH Africa’s health regulator has approved Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, paving the way for large-scale deliveries of the shot the government has put at the heart of its immunisation plans.
The conditional approval by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) comes less than four months after it started a “rolling review” of the J&J vaccine, which has been administered to healthcare workers since mid-February in a research study.
J&J aims to supply the country with 31 million doses of its single-dose vaccine, with 2.8 million doses being made available in the second quarter, it said in a statement announcing the approval.
SAHPRA said in a separate statement the vaccine’s registration on March 31 was a significant step in the fight against COVID-19. It said its authorisation was subject to conditions including that the vaccine is administered in line with the government’s immunisation plan and that periodic safety
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