Zambia Allocated Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine

Health Minister Dr Jonas Chanda has said that the country has been allocated doses of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in addition to the COVAX supply.

Speaking at a routine COVID-19 update briefing, Dr Chanda said that the government continue to look at additional options for vaccine acquisition, having recently received communication from the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) which informed them of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine allocation. The exact number of vaccines to be received is yet to be confirmed.

The acquisition follows 8.7 million doses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines which were sent to the country through COVAX at the end of March, two months after Ghana started its vaccination programme.

Dr Chanda said that discussions will be held with Private Sector and Non-State Actors who have expressed interest in supporting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine acquisition.

“The Ministry of Health wishes to guide that our engagement of these private players will proceed cautiously with approved organisations being represented.” Dr. Chanda said.

Delayed deployment of the vaccine to Zambia comes almost two months after the Johnson and Johnson vaccine roll-out in South Africa. A clinical trial within South Africa demonstrated that this particular vaccine has 57% efficacy in preventing moderate and severe COVID-19 infections.

Although this efficacy rate is almost 40% lower than those of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, the J&J vaccine only requires one dose which will dramatically reduce any logistical costs in its roll-out in Zambia. The vaccine has also shown complete protection against hospitalisation and deaths 28 days post-vaccination.

Distribution of the vaccine will likely be welcomed with open arms by the government after reports that they were only planning to vaccinate 20% of their population.

The most recent COVID-19 figures from Zambia show that 62 people tested positive for the disease, out of 2,438 tests conducted, with 2 new deaths recorded from Northern and Southern Provinces. However, a study conducted by the Lancet Global Health journal predicts that figures could be 92 times greater than those reported.