South Africa’s first Covid-19 vaccine doses reportedly arrived by plane yesterday Monday 1 February 2021, raising hopes of checking the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, which has provoked a lockdown in the country.
An ecstatic Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, had welcomed the arrival of the vaccines, describing the arrival as a chance to turn the tide on the virus which has devastated several sectors in the country.
The vaccine sent to the country is of the AstraZeneca brand from the Serum Institute of India. (SII). The institute had caught fire last month but the damage to the facility was minimal and did not hamper the production of vaccines.
South Africa received exactly 1 million shots from the SII. President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was at the OR Tambo with his top aides to receive the 1 million shots of AstraZeneca, is confident the arrival of the vaccine will lead to the country recovery.
South Africa is on record to have the most coronavirus infections and deaths on the African continent.
Prior to the vaccines arriving, much of the public has expressed skepticism about it, with some of the people alleging it is an attempt by the Western world to control Africa’s population. What do you think?
