Feb, 17th 2021 – South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has received a coronavirus vaccine as the country begins the rollout of Johnson & Johnson jabs.
He was injected in front of the cameras in Khayelitsha District Hospital in Cape Town and later tweeted “Taking the vaccine was quick, easy and not so painful.“
Ramaphosa also said that he was a bit terrified of the needle at first but the process was so quick he did not feel pain. He said, “It was just a prick on my flesh and i didn’t feel much pain. This day represents a huge milestone for us as South Africans. Finally the vaccines are here and are being administered. I was very pleased to see health workers. I’d like to invite South Africans to take this up.”
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize and other healthcare workers were also vaccinated with first batch of 80,000 of the Johnson & Johnson doses which arrived in the country on Tuesday evening.
The country has received 80,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson, which has been shown to be effective against the variant first identified in South Africa.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the country has secured nine million doses of this vaccine in total, and more doses are expected.
The health Minister also says that there is enough vaccine to administer to people as the initial target was 40 million.