Rand falls as South Africa puts AstraZeneca vaccinations on hold
South Africa's rand weakened early on Monday after the country's Covid-19 vaccination plan suffered a setback over the weekend as the government put on hold the use of AstraZeneca's vaccine in its programme.
At 0635 GMT, the rand traded at 14.8850 against the dollar, 0.32% weaker than its close on Friday.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Sunday the government would await advice from scientists on how best to proceed after a trial showed the AstraZeneca vaccine did not significantly reduce the risk of mild or moderate Covid-19 infection caused by the country's dominant coronavirus variant.
"The government is scrambling to figure out its 'next steps' after new evidence showed that AstraZeneca's vaccine provides minimal protection against 501Y.V2 variant," analysts at NKC African Economics said in a note.
South Africa had hoped to roll out the AstraZeneca vaccine to healthcare workers soon after receiving 1 million doses produced by the Serum Institute of India on February 1.
In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark instrument due in 2030 was up 1.5 basis points to 8.47% in early deals.
Comments
The
functionality
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation