JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa gave a hero’s welcome to the delivery of its first COVID-19 vaccines, a million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa greeted the crates of the vaccine Monday at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport. The shipment will be followed up later this month by another 500,000 doses. The AstraZeneca vaccines will be used to inoculate South Africa’s front-line health workers, which will be the start of the country’s vaccination campaign. A vaccine expert says the vaccine will be effective at preventing severe disease and death from the variant that has become dominant in South Africa.
