[Thread] On Friday, South Africa’s largest open medical aid scheme Discovery sent an email to members outlining its plans to rollout #COVID19sa vaccines to members. Here’s what you need to know: bit.ly/DiscoveryCovid…
2/7 Discovery is investing in preparing to vaccinate 3m adults quickly when #COVID19sa vaccines become available. Govt remains the only buyer of vaccines in South Africa, but the scheme says it has the capacity to 50,000 people daily. #COVID19vaccine bit.ly/DiscoveryCovid…
3/7 Discovery estimates it should be able to vaccinate “all of Discovery’s 550 000 high-risk members within a few weeks” when stocks become available #COVID19sa. Gore confirms stocks remain constrained in this 2nd quarter of year #COVID19vaccine bit.ly/DiscoveryCovid…
4/7 Discovery founder Adrian Gore says modelling by the scheme indicates high-risk people should be ideally vaccinated against #COVID19sa by June — much earlier than Cabinet projections of October 2021 bit.ly/DiscoveryCovid…
5/7 Gore’s letter also hints that the creation of categories & sub-categories of high-risk groups to be prioritised for #COVID19sa vaccines is at advanced states. A rollout to reach 37m adults — or more than herd immunity would look like this: bit.ly/DiscoveryCovid…
6/7 Private sector #COVID19sa vaccinations expected to start May 1: “Discovery is deploying in excess of 500 people and spending significant capital to achieve this, including on the establishment of more than 20 large-scale vaccination centres.” bit.ly/DiscoveryCovid…
7/7 Lastly, Discovery will use its own electronic #COVID19vaccine registration system, which it says will work with govt portal. It’s not clear how / if the scheme will opening its vaccination centres to the public. Read the full letter here. #COVID19sa bit.ly/DiscoveryCovid…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Laura Lopez Gonzalez

Laura Lopez Gonzalez Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @LLopezGonzalez

30 Mar
Ramaphosa: "This will be enough to vaccinate 41m people in South Africa." The president is quick to correct the use of the word "citizen" in reference to this. #FamilyMeeting #COVID19SA
SA President Cyril Ramaphosa says Phase 2 of the #COVID19vaccine rollout #COVID19sa vaccines will begin in mid-May to high-risk groups and continue for 6 months. Registration will start in April, both online & in-person. >2000 vaccination sites have been ID'd #FamilyMeeting
South Africa's more than 2000 vaccination projected #COVID19vaccine points include stadiums, GP rooms and retail outlets, says Rampahosa #COVID19sa People will be given vaccine certificates post jabs. #FamilyMeeting
Read 8 tweets
30 Mar
1/5 South Africa's confirmed #COVID19vaccine tally, according to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize’s remarks today: #COVID19sa
31m doses of Johnson & Johnson.
20m Pfizer doses.

bit.ly/SAVaccineUpdate
2/5 It's unclear whether South Africa will receive a previously stated #COVAX allocation of 117,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Mkhize says in this statement that COVAX can only offer #AstraZeneca & Novavax, which he says SA isn't using b/c of variants bit.ly/SAVaccineUpdate
3/5 Mkhize: "The Director-General has been directed to complete negotiations around #Sputnik, #Sinovac & #Sinopharm #COVID19vaccines & report back on an urgent basis. Applications to SAHPRA are currently being considered on a rolling basis." #COVID19sa bit.ly/SAVaccineUpdate
Read 5 tweets
10 Feb
[THREAD] Recap: The #AstraZeneca vaccine did not protect against mild-to-moderate #COVID19sa caused by the new variant in South Africa, researchers announced this week. We don't know what this means for severe #COVID19 but what happens now with South Africa's rollout?
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has announced that given the new #AstraZeneca results, the health department will continue phase one using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was shown to reduce a person's risk of moderate to serious disease caused by the new variant by ~60%
Pfizer vaccines will also rolled out. Government is also in advanced talks with Sputnik vaccine makers, this follows peer-reviewed results for the vaccine, which was found to be ~92% effective in preventing any #COVID19sa #COVID19 thelancet.com/action/showPdf…
Read 11 tweets
7 Feb
Scientists confirm AstraZeneca #COVID19vaccine shows no significant reduction in mild to moderate #COVID19sa in South Africa against new variant but the jab could still show efficacy against serious cases of #COVID19. What does this mean for South Africa's vaccine rollout?
The background: The AstraZeneca #COVID19vaccine phase 2 trial in South Africa included only healthy & HIV-negative adults. Half of the people got the vaccine & half got a placebo of saline solution, which is similar to salt water. #COVID19 #COVID19sa
The study only had enough people to be able to show if the vaccine was at least 60% effective & could not say if it protected against severe #COVID19 - a bigger, phase 3 study would be needed for that. #COVID19sa
Read 22 tweets
27 Jan
Following the arrival of #COVID19vaccines in South Africa, jabs will be reviewed for safety etc for 10 to 14 days before being distributed to provinces, says Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. #COVID19sa #COVID19
AstraZeneca #COVID19vaccine has now been authorised for use in South Africa via SAHPRA. Mkhize confirms that a 30-day consultation period related to the approval of GMOs has been waived by the Dept of Agriculture. #COVID19 #COVID19sa
If you're following along with tonight's #COVID19sa #COVID19Vaccine presentation, you can check out just how many jabs are in clinical trials via this handy WHO link who.int/publications/m…
Read 10 tweets
27 Jan
[Thread] South Africa regulator SAHPRA has announced Section 21 compassionate use for the drug #ivermectin. As part of this, doctors can apply for access to the drug but will have to collect & submit detailed data to the regulator on issues like side-effects. #COVID19sa #COVID19
Section 21 or compassionate use programmes have made headlines in the past decade in South Africa largely because they've been key to getting the latest treatments for drug-resistant #TB into patients' hands. #ivermectin #COVID19sa #COVID19 news24.com/health24/medic…
#Ivermectin is currently registered for use in animals in SA, but is not yet registered for human use. SAHPRA says there is still not strong enough data to say for sure it works to treat or prevent #COVID19sa but notes that there is a lack of options for many patients. #COVID19
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!