JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa has completed the sale of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines it has acquired but has not used for other member states of the African Union (AU), the health ministry said on Sunday.
The country stopped vaccination with AstraZeneca last month because of a small trial showing that the injection offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illnesses caused by the dominant local variant of the coronavirus.
At the time, South Africa had received 1 million doses of AstraZeneca from the Serum Institute of India and delivery of another 500,000 was pending.
The ministry said it had worked in recent weeks to ensure that all member states identified by AU vaccine procurement teams as vaccine recipients were in compliance and obtained all regulatory approvals, authorizations and licenses to launch vaccines in their respective countries.
“The minister can confirm that the full purchase price was received by the department on Monday of last week,” the agency said in a statement.
“The first batch of vaccines being delivered will benefit 9 member states and the rest will be collected this week to be delivered to another 5 member states.”
The statement made no mention of prices and did not mention the countries that bought the vaccines.
After halting the launch of the AstraZeneca vaccine, South Africa began to inoculate healthcare professionals with injections from Johnson & Johnson in a research study.
The government plans to vaccinate 40 million people, or two-thirds of the population, to achieve some level of collective immunity.
(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Catherine Evans and Giles Elgood)