Thread by @miamalan

[Thread] 1. 80 000 Johnson & Johnson #CovidVaccines will land in SA today (weather permitting, etc). Where will they go? @bhekisisa_MG’s @KeMohale made an interactive map of the 16 sites and number of doses each site will receive. tabsoft.co/2N979kd

2. The 80 000 J&J doses will go to 16 sites (2 sites in each province, except for the Northern Cape, which will have 1 - one of the Free State’s sites, Pelonomi Hospital, isn’t ready yet and will be phased in when it is. bit.ly/3rXrAPY

3. Who will get vaccinated first? #HealthWorkers. Why? They deal with #COVID19 patients + are the most vulnerable to infection. Everyone needs to register on @HealthZA’s system. Only 28% of SA’s 1.25 million workers had done so by 1pm on Tue. Register: vaccine.enroll.health.gov.za

4. When will the first #HealthWorker be vaccinated? If all goes well, says @LindaGailBekker, who is co-leading a study SA will conduct with the J&J jabs, “round about mid-day on Wednesday”. The other leader of the study is the @MRCza’s Glenda Gray. bit.ly/3rXrAPY

5. So how well does the J&J jab work? Research has shown it provides 85% protection against severe #COVID19 (the type of COVID that makes you end up in hospital or leads to death) in South Africa — that includes disease caused by the new variant, #501YV2. bit.ly/2N83LWE

6. But for less severe forms of #COVID, the J&J jab’s protection isn’t as good as against severe disease. It provides 57% protection against moderate to severe disease in SA, including disease caused by the new variant #501YV2. We explain why in our story: bit.ly/3rXrAPY

7. Interesting finding about the J&J jab: While the protection it provides against moderate/severe disease in SA is lower than in other countries (as the jab is less effective @ #501YV2), it provides the same level of protection against severe disease in SA as in other countries.

8. So why is SA conducting a study with J&J jabs if we already have data that shows how well it works? This is the quickest way to get the jab to health workers — getting it approved for research use takes a few days, for wider use it could take months. bit.ly/3rXrAPY

9. How many more J&J jabs will SA receive? Up to 500 000 for research purposes (we’re getting them for free), and 9 million that we have to pay for. There’s also talk about a possible 20 million more, but it hasn’t been officially confirmed. bit.ly/3rXrAPY

10. When will the other J&J jabs arrive? Free jabs: we’ll get 3 batches of 80 000 every 2 wks, then 1 batch of 60 000. Once we’ve used those jabs, J&J will give SA another 200 000. The 9 million? When there’s stock + when @SAHPRA1 has approved it for use. bit.ly/3rXrAPY

11. Why does it take so long to approve the J&J jab for wider roll-out? @SAHPRA1 has to review loads of data to ensure the #CovidVaccine is as safe and effective as Johnson & Johnson says it is. We explain it in more detail in our story. bit.ly/3rXrAPY