(Adds presidency statement, context)
CAPE TOWN, Feb 17 (Reuters) - South Africa will administer
its first COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday as it inoculates health
workers with the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) shot as part of
a research study.
The first shot will be given at Khayelitsha District
Hospital in Cape Town, the government said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement that 80,000
J&J doses were being prepared for distribution across the
country.
"It is expected that most vaccination centres will be ready
from today, 17 February 2021, to begin the vaccination
programme," Ramaphosa said.
South Africa switched to the J&J vaccine to start protecting
its health workers after pausing rollout of AstraZeneca's
vaccine this month.
Preliminary trial data showed the AstraZeneca shot developed
in partnership with the University of Oxford offered minimal
protection against mild to moderate illness from the country's
dominant coronavirus variant.
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf and Alexander Winning
Editing by David Goodman
)