This, after claims on social-media that because the doses of the vaccine are about to expire, members of the public, who do not yet qualify for their injection, have been vaccinated.

The co-principal investigator of the Sisonke trial, Professor Glenda Gray, said the rumours are untrue and says the doses of the J&J vaccine, currently being used in the country, will only expire in a year.

The Sisonke-study, which aimed to vaccinate more than half-a-million of the country’s medical workers against the virus, is set to come to an end on Sunday.