JOHANNESBURG, Feb 10 (Reuters) – South Africa’s health minister said on Wednesday that the country would vaccinate health workers with Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine in the form of an “implementation study” in partnership with the Medical Research Council.

“This will provide valuable information about the pandemic in the post-vaccination community and thus, ensure early identification of breakthrough infections should they occur amongst vaccinated health workers,” Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said.

He added that vaccine doses from Pfizer had also been secured for the first phase of vaccination targeting health workers. (Reporting by Alexander Winning and Wendell Roelf; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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