South African Regulator Approves Pfizer Booster Vaccine After Surge In Covid Cases
News 18South Africa has approved the use of Pfizer’s coronavirus booster vaccine for people aged over 18 years, amid mounting concern following a record of almost 20,000 infections overnight, largely ascribed to the new and highly-mutating Omicron variant. The South African Health Products Authority on Wednesday approved the use of Pfizer’s Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine after BioNTech and Pfizer announced that two doses of their vaccine may not be enough to protect against the Omicron variant. President Cyril Ramaphosa was expected to hold urgent meetings with the Corona Command Council and his Cabinet immediately upon his return from a week-long visit to four West African nations Thursday. On Tuesday, Jacques van Zuydam, the Department of Social Development’s chief director for population and development, disclosed that South Africa’s life expectancy had gone down by three-and-a-half years because of the pandemic.