South Africa’s healthcare workers on Wednesday began to receive vaccination against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) at the Khayelitsha Hospital in Cape Town.

The start of the vaccination in the Cape Town hospital officially marks the beginning of the country’s vaccination programme, according to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.

The vaccine they used is from Johnson & Johnson from which South Africa received late Tuesday night at the OR Tambo airport.

The Johnson vaccine would be able to treat patients with the 501Y.V2 variant which has become dominant in a number of provinces.

Mkhize said the AstraZeneca vaccine which arrived in January would be offered to the African Union (AU) due to its limited efficacy against the dominant variant.

He said South Africa would receive 9 million doses from Johnson & Johnson in total.

With 80,000 having arrived on Tuesday, 500,000 are set for arrival in March.