South Africa to donate over 2 million J&J vaccines to other African nations

South Africa is set to donate over 2 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to other nations in Africa in an effort to boost overall vaccination on the continent, the country announced Friday.

The donations amounting to about $18 million will be made via the African Renaissance Fund and the African Vaccination Acquisition Trust and will be produced by the Aspen Pharma manufacturing plant in Gqeberha, South Africa.

The vaccination drive’s mission is to vaccinate at least 60 percent of the continent’s population against COVID-19 and will begin distribution in 2022 through the African Medical Suppliers Platform, as explained in the South African government’s statement. 

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said, “This donation embodies South Africa’s solidarity with our brothers and sisters on the continent with whom we are united in fighting an unprecedented threat to public health and economic prosperity. The only way in which we can prevent COVID-19 transmission and protect economies and societies on our continent, is to successfully immunize a critical mass of the African population with safe and effective vaccines.”

At the end of November, South African doctors and researchers detected omicron, the new COVID-19 variant of concern. 

This led to many countries banning travel to and from South Africa as well as other African countries, including the United States. The bans triggered some criticism from South African officials who said they were effectively being punished for being transparent about omicron.

On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that people should take either the Moderna or Pfizer mRNA vaccines preferentially over the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The panelists stated that this was not due to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine’s efficacy, but on safety concerns based on very rare, but serious reactions to the vaccine, including blood clotting. 

A study also revealed Monday that the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine offers virtually no protection from the new omicron variant of COVID-19, as reported by Bloomberg.