There have been mixed reactions to the suspension of the use of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine after Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize announced a temporary halt on the roll-out in South Africa due to the danger of unusual blood clots.
This comes after six women developed unusual blood clots with low platelets after receiving the vaccine in the United States. It occurred between six and 13 days after the women between the ages of 18 and 48-years-old were vaccinated. The decision to suspend the roll-out of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine in South Africa, was announced on Tuesday night and comes after the Food and Drug Administration in the United States of America advised that the vaccine roll-out in the US be temporarily suspended.
Speaking to The Springfield Weekly Gazette about the temporary suspension of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine roll-out in SA, Durban residents said they were wary and that safety came first. Overport resident, Reksha Pillay, said the Health Department should halt the roll-out of all vaccines until they were 100 percent sure about them. “I will not take the vaccine even if it is approved because I believe that all vaccines have side-effects which only show up after a long time. I am scared that if I take the vaccine, it will have a negative impact on my body, and
I will end up being more sick. I believe that this vaccine was rushed and it is not guaranteed that it will protect us. I will rather continue to take vitamins, wear my mask and social distance as I believe that this is a better way to protect myself. These vaccines are rushed and I believe that this is very risky.” Newlands West resident, Philani Sithole, said he was glad the National Health Department made the decision to suspend the roll-out of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. “Safety measures need to be taken and if the people in the US developed unusual blood clots, the same would have happened in SA. Our safety must come first. I say kudos to Minister Mkhize for the temporary suspension, until we are sure that this vaccine is safe for use by all. When it is safe to use, I will definitely take the vaccine to protect myself and my family from Covid-19,” said Sithole.
Mkhize said even though 289 787 healthcare workers under the Sisonke Protocol had been vaccinated in South Africa, there had not been any reports of blood clots. “I held urgent consultations with our scientists, who have advised that we cannot take the decision made by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lightly,” said Dr Mkhize. Mkhize said that based on the FDA advice, the Ministry of Health voluntarily suspended the roll-out until the causal relationship between the development of clots and the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is sufficiently interrogated. “I call for calm and patience as we ensure that we continue to be properly guided by science in ensuring the safety of our people as we roll-out the vaccine campaign. We hope that the deliberations will only take a few days. Given the preliminary literature on hand, our scientists are confident that the FDA’s decision is on a precautionary basis and we expect that this will not result in the complete withdrawal of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine from the vaccination armament,” he said.
Mkhize said he was happy to announce that the department had successfully negotiated for another 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine. “Of these, we expect just under two million to be delivered in May. We have secured 30 million doses of Pfizer vaccine for this financial year. In the extremely unlikely event that the Johnson and Johnson roll-out is completely halted, we will not have any impediment to proceed with phase two of the roll-out with Pfizer,” he said. Minister Mkhize added: “We are confident that the roll-out of Johnson and Johnson will resume and with 30 million doses of Johnson and Johnson and 30 million doses of Pfizer secured we now have enough doses to exceed the 40 million we were targeting this year. This is in line with our commitment to vaccinate as many people as possible in this financial year.”
