- Deputy President David Mabuza says he will be vaccinated.
- Mabuza promised to get the jab once he visits a vaccination site.
- The government is ensuring there is no corruption linked to the vaccination process.
Deputy President David Mabuza has promised to join President Cyril Ramaphosa and be inoculated against Covid-19.
Mabuza was addressing the media during his visit to the Biovac Institute in Midrand.
He was accompanied by acting Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni and Deputy Health Minister Joe Phaahla.
"I will be vaccinated. I will visit a site where they are vaccinating and I will vaccinate there."
Mabuza said the Biovac Institute, where the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is stored, was partly owned by the government.
Over 67 000 health workers have been vaccinated in the past 10 days, with the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. | @ntwaagae https://t.co/q0WS0Ro25s
— News24 (@News24) February 28, 2021
The biopharmaceutical company was formed in 2003 in a partnership between the government and private investors to establish local vaccine manufacturing capability.
"The Johnson & Johnson vaccine that we are administering now is stored here. From this facility, it is distributed to different centres and vaccination sites. We have learnt that the cold chain can be broken for some days and that that won't alter the quality of the vaccine. But it can't go beyond certain days without.
"This is the capability we have [as] a country … Cabinet took a decision to improve this capability of us manufacturing our own vaccine. We do currently manufacture vaccines. Almost 80% of vaccines are manufactured in Cape Town and distributed," he added.
Mabuza, who chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Vaccines, said the committee was taking care of all processes related to the vaccine and would ensure there was no corruption.
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