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Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize.
- Without warning, on Friday, scientists who were part of the 50-member Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19 received letters thanking them for their service.
- The letter from Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has a paragraph and mentions that “new members” will be appointed soon.
- Mkhize announced the reconfiguration of MAC on September 14 in a daily press release, but scientists say they were caught off guard.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has effectively dissolved the government’s main scientific advisory committee on Covid-19.
News24 has seen a letter sent to the members of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19 on Friday, September 21, in which Mkhize expressed his “gratitude and appreciation” for the commitment and dedication of the members.
“Their contribution has led to the containment of the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa and the reduction of the mortality of South African citizens. New members of the MAC will take up their duties soon,” the letter says.
READ | Covid-19: Mkhize finally makes MAC recommendations public
The committee is chaired by Professor Salim Abdool Karim and was established at the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak in April to advise Mkhize.
Karim’s status as president is unclear.
While it appears that the entire 50-member MAC has been affected, at the time of writing News24 had confirmed that 14 MAC members had received letters, including South Africa’s Covid-19 vaccine trial lead researcher Professor Shabir Madhi, and the executive director of South Africa. Professor Glenda Gray of the African Council for Medical Research.
Others confirmed by News24 include Professor Francois Venter, head of Ezintsha’s health unit at the University of the Witwatersrand. and Dr. Angelique Coetzee, President of the South African Medical Association.
The others are not being named as News24 was unable to reach them immediately to confirm whether they had received a letter, but they include some of the nation’s top epidemiologists and immunologists.
READ | Professor Shabir Madhi: ‘I have more impact outside MAC than on it’
Madhi, Venter and Gray have been prominent voices in criticizing some of the regulations promulgated by the government in response to Covid-19.
Reconfiguration
Mkhize spokesperson Lwazi Manzi said the minister had announced the reconfiguration of the MAC on September 14 as part of the daily press release testing the Covid-19 updates.
Manzi said a new MAC on behavior change and the MAC for a Covid-19 vaccine were not affected.
“With the changing pattern of the pandemic, it has become necessary to reconfigure the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19,” says the September 14 statement.
“The new MAC will take into account the need for the inclusion of behavioral and social scientists, among other factors.”
But Professor Francois Venter said: “It was done without warning or explanation.”
“It’s not like the epidemic is over. The government really needs to embrace transparency and explain going to a WHO expert group, an inexplicable curfew, or the dissolution of an expert panel that did not approve the decisions. taken behind closed doors “.
Dr. Angelique Coetzee acknowledged that Mkhize had indicated her intention to reconfigure the MAC.
“But to this day, the names have not yet been released, so no one knew,” he said.
READ ALSO | Schools, Taxis, and Level 4: MAC Ads Reveal How the Government Dodged Scientists
“I think they would want to [the MAC] smaller and they want maybe more participation from the people in the face of coal – nursing groups and others – bringing them in as well, “Coetzee explained.
‘Unexpectedly’
“One of the most important things is, if we look at another MAC, which should be the public sector or the private sector advising the minister, and perhaps we should have fewer people working for him. [Department of Health] advise the minister, “he added.
He also said that the letter, which came out of nowhere, was perhaps not the best way to carry out the exercise of dissolving the committee.
“I think they all received a letter. A better way would be to say, ‘We are thinking we need to start a new period, thank you for your work.’ [They could have said] ‘This is why, let’s see how we could put together a more practical group, this is the way to go,’ “he said.
“Maybe they thought it was a good way, but it isn’t.”
“Hopefully, when the new group is called, it will be a practical group with fewer people working for the department but people like Francois [Venter] and Professor Karim, but also a slightly more balanced committee: we need the scientists, but we also need people to work at the surface level of the coal, “said Coetzee.
Covid-19 cases continue to rise by an average of 1600 cases per day over the past week, and while this is significantly lower than the rate at which new cases rose in July and August, Mkhize and the scientists have warned. repeatedly that people need to maintain strict security measures.
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