Gauteng Premier David Makhura is this afternoon visiting the Chris Hani Baragwanath and Steve Biko Academic Hospitals as South Africa’s COVID-19 vaccination programme gets underway.
The Premier is scheduled to visit the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto in a visit that will get underway at 1pm.
Makhura will also visit Tshwane’s Steve Biko hospital later in the afternoon.
As of Tuesday, the province has a total 399 168 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 384 945 recoveries and 9295 deaths.
A total 3850 people are currently hospitalised in public and private health facilities.
The Premier’s visit to the two hospitals follows the arrival of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine having arrived in South Africa on Tuesday night.
The country’s vaccination programme gets underway in Khayelitsha in the Western Cape today, where President Cyril Ramaphosa and Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize will be among the first to get the vaccine, along with health care workers.
The first batch of 80 000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is being prepared for distribution across South Africa with immediate effect.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been shown in extensive trials to be safe and efficacious, and will protect health care workers from illness and death from COVID-19. – SAnews.gov.za
