S. Africa on track with vaccination campaign: minister

JOHANNESBURG, March 25 (Xinhua) -- South Africa is on track with its national vaccination campaign, a senior official said on Thursday.

Following a Cabinet meeting, Acting Minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told a briefing on Thursday that phase two inoculation of more than 13 million people including the elderly, the ill and essential workers will be carried out in six months.

"The Department of Health is on track to vaccinate all healthcare workers by the end of Phase one," she said.

Phase one of the vaccination campaign which began in February was aimed at vaccinating over 1.5 million medical workers.

Ntshavheni said that phase three will be implemented over three months between November 2021 to February 2022, aiming to cover the rest of the country's population in the country.

"The vaccination sites for Phases two and three will expand ... to improve the efficiency and the speed of the vaccination roll-out program," she said.

More vaccines were expected to arrive soon. The government has been criticized previously for slow vaccination, with less than 210,000 medical workers having been inoculated.