For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.

Making headlines: Government to do away with sector vaccinations; SANDF touches down in Cape Town to prevent flare-up of violence; And, Biovac/Pfizer vaccine partnership will boost mRNA hub

Government to do away with sector vaccinations

Acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said owing to the success of the vaccination of those aged 35 to 49, government would do away with vaccinations by sector and continue with vaccinations based on age groups.

The Department of Health opened registration for the Covid-19 vaccine for persons aged between 35 and 49 years on July 15, with over 1-million people in that age group registering for the vaccine in 24 hours.

Meanwhile, 1 500 volunteers have joined the vaccination programme across the country to administer vaccines over the weekend. Volunteers include doctors, nurses and health workers.

SANDF touches down in Cape Town to prevent flare-up of violence

South African National Defence Force members are patrolling in Khayelitsha, in Cape Town to prevent any flare-ups of the violence and mass looting seen in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

Many Khayelitsha residents welcomed the deployment.

Khayelitsha Development Forum chairperson Ndithini Tyhido said the soldiers could quell the ongoing feud between taxi associations.

Tyhido explained that the situation has become dire. In light of the taxi violence, the deployment has been welcomed.

The Khayelitsha commuters have suffered another attack on public transport. This was due to the City's unresolved issues with Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations and the MyCiTi bus service. That service was stopped in 2019 and there has been no change – and with the taxi shootings, commuters no longer feel safe.

And, Biovac/Pfizer vaccine partnership will boost mRNA hub

Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Dr Blade Nzimande has congratulated the Biovac Institute for its partnership with Pfizer and its German vaccine partner BioNTech which will see the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine being manufactured in South Africa for distribution within the African Union.

Biovac will be the first company in Africa to produce a Messenger RNA-based vaccine.

The partnership will begin with filling doses and shipping them, with the intent to move towards manufacturing the pharmaceutical ingredients to develop vaccines from scratch.

Nzimande said the partnership will also add a much-needed boost to the mRNA tech transfer hub, which was launched in South Africa last month by the World Health Organization.

Nzimande’s department holds a 47.5% shareholding in Biovac.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter [@Polity ZA]