South Africa Receives 1st Batch Of COVID-19 Vaccine Ahead Of Nigeria

The country received its first shipment of the vaccine on Monday, February 1 ahead of Nigeria.

Reports have it that the one million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine were received by President Cyril Ramaphosa at Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo International airport today.

The country is said to be awaiting another half-a-million dose of the vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India before the end of the month of February 2021.

The vaccines would not be administered to anyone until after two weeks of quarantine. South Africa, after the two weeks of quarantine, would administer the doses to about 1.2 million health workers, which is its first target followed by other citizens as claimed in previous reports.

Meanwhile, the new variant of the dreaded disease is said to have again gained grown in South Africa as more cases are being reported daily. With at least 1.45 million detected infections and more than 44,000 fatalities, South Africa has the highest number of cases and deaths in Africa.