1/4 #Omicron is now the dominant #COVID19 variant in South Africa's Gauteng province but promising early data from South Africa that vaccines remain strongly protective against serious Coviid-19 death & disease. 2/4 In SA's Gauteng province, hospitalisations & deaths are rising much more slowly than increases in cases, indicating that vaccines are keeping people out of hospitals. Early data suggests that vaccines may keep hospitalisations lower in this 4th wave than in 3rd. #Omicron

BREAKING: Johnson & Johnson has granted a license to South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare to manufacture an Aspen-branded version of the J&J #COVID19vaccine for distribution in Africa. #VaccineApartheid #COVID19 The agreement is the result of several months of negotiations & investment, says WTO's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. She says WTO is holding periodic meetings with #COVID19 vaccine manufacturers & hopes agreement will be a step to decentralise #COVID19vaccine production globally.

South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla: “There is no need to panic. There is no basis for some of these leaders who have imposed these travel bans.” #Omicron #Covid19 South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla: " We want to thank our scientists. There is a saying that says you are better off dealing with an enemy you know. Now we know.” #Omicron #Covid19

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa: "We now know #Omnicron has far more mutations than any other previous variant... We know that variant is different from other circulating variants and that it's not directly related to the Delta or Beta variants." #COVID19 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa: " We know that #Omnicron is different from other circulating variants and that it's not directly related to the Delta or Beta variants." #COVID19sa

South African Health Minister Joseph Phaahla reacts to new #COVID19 travel bans: “The reaction of countries to impose travel bans are completely against the norms and standards as guided by the World Health Organisation." #B11529 Preliminary studies do suggest the #B11529 variant may be more transmissible, says South African Health Minister Joseph Phaahla. He emphasises that what scientists know about the #COVID19 variant is in its infancy. There is no evidence to suggest the variant makes you sicker.

[THREAD] This week, I reported for @thecontinent_ that South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare had been forced to destroy 30-million #COVID19vaccine doses. Aren’t these the same doses binned in the US after problems at J&J’s Emergent plant there? bit.ly/2XtEZ8j 2/5 No, these 30m #COVID19Vaccine doses destroyed in South Africa are not the same as those binned in the US, says head of African Vaccine Distribution Alliance Dr Ayoade Olatunbosun-Alakija, who revealed this at a WHO presser. Here’s part of that audio transcript:

Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong speaking: "We should feel very encouraged that despite the many challenges we are seeing in this pandemic... the next time a pandemic comes around, Africa will be in a very different position to fight that pandemic." Nkengasong says Rwanda, Egypt, Senegal & Morroco have all expressed interest in or are moving towards local #COVID19 vaccine production. South Africa continues to do some aspects of COVID-19 vaccine production & firms say they are willing to partner with other countries.

[Thread] Today's #COVID19sa provincial vaccine rollout by numbers - according to last night's national health department briefing. (Note: Provinces didn't all provide the same info & designated sites have not been updated on the nat'l website) #VaccineRolloutSA #Phase2 2/10 Eastern Cape #Phase2 :
Healthcare workers vaccinated: 67%
#COVID19sa vaccine sites launching today: 25
Senior citizens registered: 74,000
Initial vaccine doses received: ~16,000 out 43,000 allocated
#VaccineRolloutSA
Register here: sacoronavirus.co.za/evds/

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize: 5-million senior citizens will be vaccinated by the end of June if vaccines flow as expected. Tomorrow vaccination starts with 83 sites in the public sector & four in the private sector for 60+ & remaining healthcare workers #COVID19sa #COVID19 Mkhize: More than 1.2 million senior citizens have registered on the EVD citizens. Tomorrow, vaccine sites will not take senior citizen walk-ins #COVID19 #COVID19sa sacoronavirus.co.za/evds/

71% of South Africans were would get a #COVID19sa vaccine, according to country's first nationally representative survey on #vaccinehesitancy. Afrikaans home language speakers were more likely than other language groups to be vaccine-hesitant, shows new NIDS-CRAM data. #COVID19 NIDS-CRAM survey looked at the extent of vaccine hesitancy among about 6630 adults in SA, the reasons why & who might be more or less likely to be vaccine hesitancy. The survey found the highest level of vaccine willingness (71%) of surveys so far.

[THREAD] Yesterday, US Trade Rep. Ambassador Katherine Tai issued a statement: Biden administration will support waiving intellectual property protections on #COVID19 vaccines. Here’s why it’s historic but may not go far enough. #COVID19vaccines #TRIPSwaiver 2/7 In Oct, India & South Africa proposed WTO waive intellectual property protections related to, for instance, patents & manufacturing on #COVID19 vaccines, medicines, tests etc, to contain pandemic. This #TRIPSwaiver would apply for a limited time. 100+ countries support this

[Thread] #Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel has confirmed the #COVID19vaccine maker is exploring a possible plant in #Africa. Here’s why experts think mRNA technology could finally put Africa in control of its vaccine supply — and its outbreaks. #Covid19 bit.ly/mRNAinAfrica 2/5 In the '09 H1N1 pandemic, Africa was last in line for jabs as vaccine-producing countries refused to export jabs until domestic needs were met. Today, history is repeating. The US has immunised at least 10x as many people as ALL OF AFRICA. #COVID19 bit.ly/mRNAinAfrica

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

https://twitter.com/LLopezGonzalez/status/1376941839668940810

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

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

[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…

[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%

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

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

[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…

[Thread] Most of Africa & the world’s poorest countries likely to get initial #COVAX #COVID19vaccines free in a major policy shift. Will it be enough? Here’s what we know. MT @thecontinent_ bit.ly/3a0uz2q 2/6 When #COVAX emerged last year as the world’s only plan to guaranteeing poorer countries a shot at securing any #COVID19vaccine, it promised free jabs for the poorest nations only to later institute subsidies of up to US$2 per dose for most countries. bit.ly/3a0uz2q

[Thread] South African healthcare workers may have to wait until March 2021 to hear whether they will get special access to the Pfizer #Covid19vaccine as firm fills pre-orders from wealthy countries first. bit.ly/SACovaxUpdate 2/5 If you're struggling to keep up with the latest on #COVID19vaccines, you're not alone. Since a lot of what we do know publically is being pieced together from media reports, I nerdily transcribed the most important bits of yesterdays' @eNCA interview. bit.ly/SACovaxUpdate