Blinken, S. Africa Foreign Minister Discuss Expanding Global COVID-19 Vaccine Production

Faizan Hashmi Published May 05, 2021 | 08:02 PM

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor discussed increasing global COVID-19 vaccine production, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a readout of the conversation after the meeting between the two leaders on Wednesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th May, 2021) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor discussed increasing global COVID-19 vaccine production, State Department spokesperson Ned price said in a readout of the conversation after the meeting between the two leaders on Wednesday.

"Secretary Blinken and Foreign Minister Pandor underscored the need to expand global COVID-19 vaccine production and to cooperate on climate ambition and regional security issues such as the ongoing violence by ISIS-Mozambique [Islamic State terror group, banned in Russia]," Price said. "Secretary Blinken conveyed the importance of multilateral organizations in addressing humanitarian and human rights crises, including in Ethiopia's Tigray region."

Price said that Blinken and Pandor also committed to advance planning for a bilateral Strategic Dialogue.

On Monday, South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said that a plane carrying the first batch of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine has arrived in South Africa.

Mkhize said earlier samples of the Pfizer vaccine would be sent to the National Control Laboratory for quality assurance, after which the doses would be distributed to the country's provinces.

With respect to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Mkhize said the doses were awaiting to be dispatched at Aspen's Gqeberha factory in the Eastern Cape Province and are expected to be released in mid-May. South Africa stopped administering this vacine after the US food and Drug Administration said six women developed a severe type of blood clots.

South Africa is expecting approximately 325,260 doses of Pfizer to arrive on a weekly basis, to reach a total of more than 1.3 million by the end of May. The batches will then increase to an average of 636,480 doses weekly from May 31, for a total of 4.5 million by the end of June.