‘There won’t be any vaccine corruption’ – KZN government

THE KwaZulu-Natal government shrugged off fears of corruption regarding Covid-19 vaccine distribution.

In a press briefing held on Tuesday to give updates about the recently arrived vaccines from the Serum Institute of India, Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu said there won’t be any new tenders or procurement processes.

“There was one process and that was conducted by the national (government). National engaged the different pharmaceutical companies in terms of the procuring of the vaccine itself and then made sure there will be distribution in centres, provinces and districts. Beyond that as a province we will not be involved,” she said.

Simelane-Zulu said the province will have a decentralised rollout plan meaning that vaccine doses will be stored in centres in each district in addition to a central depot in Durban.

“These centres are not new, (they) are where we always receive medicine, vaccines there is absolutely nothing new that we have to do,” she said.

The vaccine rollout strategy will be divided into three phases, the first phase will be prioritising healthcare workers, clinical and support.

According to the provincial government this is about 163 256 people, a majority of which are based in Durban.

Simelane-Zulu said for the first phase, the department won’t be requiring additional staff but 2000 nurses have been trained in preparation for the second and third phases.

The second phase will prioritise elderly people, people with comorbidities, teachers, taxi drivers, prisoners and so on.

While the third phase will be the rest of the country until about 80 per cent of the country is vaccinated.

Sihle Zikalala, Premier of KZN, echoed Simelane-Zulu’s sentiments that healthcare facilities have been dispensing vaccines for a very long time and there’s no need for concern.

“The Provincial Command Council will support, monitor and perform oversight over the vaccine roll-out process. All District Command Councils, led by MEC’s and Mayors will spend time in districts for the duration of the roll-out and ensure daily accountability and hands on support,” he said.

The vaccines are expected to reach Durban on 14 February.