Calls for Cyril to ‘put South Africa first’ in vaccine procurement plans

Opposition parties and various organisations have called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to put South Africa first in efforts to procure and roll out Covid-19 vaccination.

In the latest “family meeting” speech on Monday night the president announced plans for South Africa as chair of the African Union (AU), to conduct pool buying of Covid-19 vaccines, one of three ways SA would be acquiring them.

There are concerns over the vagueness of information about how the government plans to get at least 60% of the population vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, and how long this would take.

The other two procurement plans were the global CoVax programme and negotiations with manufacturers and wealthier countries, which according to Ramaphosa were in advanced stages.

“While there are several promising negotiations with a number of different manufacturers that still need to be concluded, we have, to date, secured 20 million doses to be delivered mainly in the first half of the year” he said
on Monday night.

Graphic: Costa Makol

But many were concerned about the plans to make pool purchases through the AU. Democratic Alliance MP and
shadow health minister Siviwe Gwarube said while the DA welcomed the diversification of channels to get the vaccine, it was incumbent on the government to explain how this would work, what funds would be pooled, and how it would benefit SA.

“By all means we are of the view that we must diversify our ways of trying to acquire the vaccine.

“But we are concerned that this is another throwaway comment by the president that is not substantiated with
greater detail.

“South Africa is still none the wiser about how this AU facility works and how it will benefit us as a country and broadly the continent.”

Congress of the People spokesperson Dennis Bloem said the party was also sceptical of Ramaphosa’s announcement  on AU pool procurements. “Cope will not agree with the suggestion from the AU of pool buying.

“We believe SA needs the vaccine as a matter of urgency. South Africa can’t afford any further delay. We are the most affected in the continent. This is a matter of life and death. We also believe it is the responsibility of each country to look after its own citizens.”

SA Medical Research Council chief executive Glenda Grey called for fairness in the AU process. “We need to work
together to ensure there is fair allocation of vaccines on the continent. The allocation should take into account the burden of disease. A plane to pool buy vaccines is one of the options to consider but not the only option.”

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers union said it had yet to see plans by the government to deal with the preparation needed for professionals in healthcare.

“We have not seen operational elements which include a vaccination training programme for clinicians, an education programme for healthcare workers about the vaccine, logistical roll-out and vaccination sites for the aged and emergency reporting for adverse event following  immunisation,” it said.

– simnikiweh@citizen.co.za

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