“In a head-to-head comparison of the three widely used coronavirus vaccines in the United States, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine yielded a strikingly lower antibody response in a Stanford School of Medicine -led study published Oct. 13 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.”

“People looking for a booster shot of a Covid-19 vaccine probably don’t need to fret about what brand it is: Many combinations of shots are likely to provide strong protection, according to a large new study.” “In a comparison of seven different vaccine brands, British researchers found that most of them prompted a strong immune response, with the mRNA shots from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech eliciting the largest responses. The study was published on Thursday in The Lancet.”

“The Australian Open’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate is about protecting the community, not about blackmailing Novak Djokovic, a state government official said on Wednesday.” “Organisers of the year’s first Grand Slam have said all players would have to be vaccinated to take part, drawing criticism from world number one Djokovic’s father.”

“The looting is only the beginning. According to four sources in politics and intelligence who spoke to the Mail & Guardian, the unrest that led to the looting and burning of thousands of shops and malls was only the first stage.” “The plan was not for the looting but to hit the white capital that supports [President Cyril] Ramaphosa so that they will go to him and say:

“In what can only be described as a bizarre turn of events, former Nelson Mandela Bay councillor Andile Lungisa will have to publicly denounce lawlessness and violence while driving around the metro with taxi operators today.” “The move, agreed to at a meeting between Lungisa, taxi industry leaders and ANC bosses yesterday afternoon, comes after he was accused of being behind attempts to loot a number of shopping centres around the Bay.”

“People who have had COVID-19 may have some immunity for several months but can still get reinfected and transmit the virus, according to a new study.” “The Public Health England (PHE) Siren report shows that antibodies from past coronavirus infections provide 83% protection for at least five months.”

I’m in the queue.... First Pfizer dose in 💉

Good evening @BusiMavuso2, can you take a question?

https://twitter.com/BusiMavuso2/status/1348498631616323585

1. You say “secured contract to produce” when referring to Aspen Pharmacare. Does that mean South Africa must wait even though AstraZeneca is already in use? @BusiMavuso2

After the Grand Prix I will let you in on what’s been going on in the last 10 days..... I don’t have any more words left now. @robertmarawa was generous with his platform several months ago, nothing changed.

“Nkosi Thandisizwe Diko is an “impostor” who misrepresents the AmaBhaca nation and lies about being a king to amass wealth for himself through political connections. This is according to the AmaBhaca royal family, which has distanced itself from the 41-year-old.” “Diko, who is the husband of Khusela Diko, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, made headlines recently after it emerged that his company, Royal Bhaca Projects,

“THE Gauteng Department of Health has paid Royal Bhaca Projects at least R80 million for its personal protective equipment (PEE) services over the past week alone through a front company known as Ledla Structural Development, Independent Media can reveal.” “The money was channelled through Ledla in 12 tranches of between R120000 and R38m after the company invoiced for items that bear a striking resemblance in value,quantity and pricing to the ones supplied by Royal Bhaca, according to payment records,official documents and sources”

“SA has already been hit hard by the impact of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown declared by the government, but indications are the worst may still be to come for the Eastern Cape, even as it appears to be business as usual for most people on the streets of the metros, towns and rural villages of the province.”

“The private health-care system seems to be buckling under the pressure as Covid-19 cases rise in the province, and reports of a shortage of beds at Life St Dominic’s have surfaced.” “According to three nurses who work at the hospital, a shortage of beds has resulted in Covid-19 patients and non-Covid patients being cramped up in the hospital’s only casualty ward.”

“The Eastern Cape health system is reeling as health workers fearing for their own safety refuse to treat Covid-19 patients, putting added pressure on state and private hospitals scrambling to meet requirements ahead of an expected spike in coronavirus cases.” “On Friday, Frere Hospital in East London was ordered to immediately shut down over concerns that measures for stopping Covid-19 — including access control —

“On 9 March, a patient who had recently traveled to Europe and had symptoms of COVID-19 visited the emergency department of St Augustine’s, a private hospital in Durban, South Africa.” “Eight weeks later, 39 patients and 80 staff linked to the hospital had been infected, and 15 patients had died—fully half the death toll in KwaZulu-Natal province at that time.”

“Health minister Zweli Mkhize is said to have “lost his cool” with allegedly incompetent Eastern Cape health officials this week.” “He visited the Nelson Mandela Bay district on Wednesday. The minister’s annoyance came, according to people who were there, after a presentation by Dr John Black, head of the infectious diseases and HIV unit at Livingstone Hospital in Port Elizabeth.”

“Furious with the Eastern Cape government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in Nelson Mandela Bay, health minister Zweli Mkhize has taken charge, sending a senior director to lead the tracing, screening and testing teams in the city.” “He also read the riot act to health MEC Sindiswa Gomba and her administrative staff in a meeting behind closed doors in Port Elizabeth, according to three insiders.”

“amaBhungane previously reported how a tenderpreneur who paid apparent kickbacks to EFF leaders won a rigged Tshwane fuel tender. It now appears that he also had help on the inside.” “Hendrick Kganyago, the man who paid millions into EFF-linked accounts when he won a lucrative City of Tshwane fuel tender, seems to have had help on the inside too – a close relative is a city employee charged with overseeing contracts from which he benefitted.”

“Former Eskom board chairperson Jabu Mabuza’s name is entangled in an R11-billion boiler tube maintenance contract at the ailing power utility, where a company of his distant relative has emerged as one of those that made it through to the final bidding process for the critical contract.”

“Minister of transport Fikile Mbalula has been accused of flying to the wrong province in a bid to broker peace in ongoing taxi wars – arriving in the Eastern Cape instead of his intended destination of KwaZuluNatal.” “Mbalula, accompanied by his staff, was on a mission to bring an end to the bloody violence in KwaZulu-Natal after a Translux bus driver was shot dead and the driver of a second bus wounded recently.”