In an effort to use up its huge surplus of millions of Covid-19 vaccines, the national Department of Health is launching a fresh round of jabs from this Monday, with a third booster shot available for the over-50s, while 18-49-year-olds are eligible for a second one
Only half of all adults have been vaccinated, and the number of people seeking shots has slowed to a trickle. At its peak in August 2021, SA’s vaccination programme reached more than 241 000 people a week. In the week to January 23, only 43 555 individuals got vaccinated.
Countrywide, only 19m people (just more than 30% of the population) are fully vaccinated, and only 4m booster shots have been administered. Slightly more than 40 000 jabs are being given weekly.
The health department, as the sole buyer of Covid-19 vaccines, has 8.1m Pfizer doses in stock and 9.9m doses of the J&J vaccine, a figure that will rise to 20.9m when the last of its orders arrives, says deputy director-general for National Health Insurance Nicholas Crisp.
The booster emphasis next week will be on Pfizer’s mRNA jab, reports BusinessLIVE, the department saying those are due to expire before its stockpile of J&J jabs.
However, if the Pfizer is not available, or people would prefer not to have it, they may have a J&J shot instead.
“There is now evidence that heterologous boosting is effective both ways,” said Crisp, referring to an approach that seeks to maximise protection by exploiting the different ways the two vaccines prime the immune system to fight SARS-CoV-2.
There is no change to the vaccination schedule for children aged 12 to 17, who are offered a primary regimen of two Pfizer doses six months apart, but no boosters.
The health department said people wanting boosters can obtain their shots at either public or private sector sites, regardless of whether they belong to medical schemes. The private sector, initially at the forefront of SA’s Covid-19 vaccination programme, now has only a handful of sites still offering vaccines.
Private hospital groups, medical schemes, and most pharmacies have wound down their operations as demand slowed. Retail pharmacy chain Clicks, for example, has now ceased its Covid-19 vaccination programme. It saw vaccinations generate just R4m in sales in the 20 weeks to 15 January 2023, compared with R685m in the corresponding period the year before.
With the government pushing for booster uptake, and with the millions of doses it says are available, you would think that access to jabs would be easy.
But GroundUp reports that finding a booster shot has become difficult. Although some Dis-Chem pharmacies still do vaccinations, public sector health facilities are the only alternative.
Active vaccination sites can be found on the government’s Find My Jab website. Some are “visiting” sites only, open once or twice a week, and others are permanently open, but it is advised to call ahead to confirm availability.
“The department is trying to find a more efficient way of updating which vaccination sites are active and those are being reflected and changed weekly on Find My Jab,” says Crisp.
The Western Cape Health Department makes weekly updates to this list of vaccination sites in the province.
BusinessLIVE article – Fresh round of Covid-19 shots available from Monday (Open access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
South Africans still dying but COVID vaccine drive slows to a trickle
Over 50s to get second booster shot
SA hits 20m vaccinations but still way below target and global average