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There are fears that South African medical aids and the private sector will seize Covid-19 vaccines and leave those who depend on the state without access. (Photo: health.economictimes.indiatimes.com / Wikipedia)
After a third letter that has been left essentially unanswered, the Health Justice Initiative has told the government that it will go to court to gain access to plans to implement the Covid-19 vaccine in South Africa and the strategies that will be put in place to ensure equitable access. .
As his efforts were met with silence, and with growing concern that medical aids and the private sector will procure Covid-19 vaccines available to South Africa, the Health Justice Initiative (HJI) is now considering taking legal action against the government to obtain information about the country’s plans to ensure equitable access to the vaccine.
In a third letter written on the subject by Fatima Hassan from HJI, she said that the only information they had received so far was from the director of the National Center for Disaster Management, Dr. Mmaphaka Tau, who acknowledged their correspondence and advised them to enter . contact with the Department of Health since they were “responsible for matters related to vaccines ”.
“We reaffirm the growing urgency for the development and publication of the access and allocation plans for the Covid-19 vaccine mentioned in our previous letters, particularly to ensure proper management by the state of the country in general. access to vaccination, supply and allocation processes, for both the public and private sectors, as they can conflict with each other, as things stand, ”Hassan wrote.
“We are concerned about the government’s disposition in relation to access and allocation of Covid-19 vaccines, ”he said, explaining that access, in light of anticipated prices, a global shortage and high demand, may even require rationing.
Another concern, Hassan said, was the incomplete patenting and drug pricing framework where local laws that could benefit access to vaccines, affordable prices and equitable allocation had not yet been passed by Parliament.
“Preparing for Covid-19 vaccine allocation requires a transparent vaccine plan that aims to ensure access to sufficient vaccines and allocate them nationally according to a fair and equitable framework.
Hassan said 140 world leaders, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, had advocated for all Covid-19 diagnoses, treatments and vaccines to be treated as “public goods” and called for a free “popular vaccine.”
The World Health Assembly adopted a resolution calling for “Universal, timely and equitable access to all quality, safe, effective and affordable essential health technologies and products and fair distribution of all of them, including vaccines.
“Despite this, there is growing concern around global access to vaccines, with the World Health Organization noting that access will be limited by unprecedented high demand and a shortage of supply, “Hassan said.
“According to an analysis by Oxfam International, 51% of the projected doses it investigated at the time were reserved for high-income countries, despite representing a much smaller percentage of the world’s population,” he said.
He said that access to the vaccine was a matter of constitutional rights, as the state had an obligation to take “reasonable legislative and other measures.” measures, within their available resources, to realize the right of access to health care”.
Hassan said they were “strongly suggesting” to the government that an urgent multi-stakeholder engagement be convened to discuss the development and / or finalization of such plans.
He warned in his letter that if the government did not respond, his organization “would seek guidance on other options, including legal processes … to compel the development and / or publication of the aforementioned plans.”
“We are in a global crisis regarding vaccination. We need answers soon, ”Hassan said, adding that the ministerial advisory committee’s warnings on vaccines had not been made public. “We need a boost so that they are also published.
“We must have a plan to find the best way to ration vaccines. We already have world apartheid on vaccines, with rich countries buying the vaccines available; we don’t want it in South Africa either, ”he said.
Hassan explained that he feared that medical aid and the private sector would take over available vaccines and leave people who depend on the state without access.
“We really hope to receive a response from the government soon,” he said. “They should work around the clock to come up with a plan for a fair allocation network.
“The government will have to intervene and say a plan for a country. We cannot have a private sector health system and a public sector health system when it comes to the Covid-19 vaccine, ”he said.
“We need a systemic and sustainable solution.”
On December 4, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize’s spokesperson, Lwazi Manzi, said the ministry was following the advice of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19 Vaccines, which recommended that Covax facilities gain prompt access to vaccines for al less than 10% of the population of South Africa. .
On Monday, December 14, Ramaphosa said that South Africa had “completed all the necessary processes” to ensure its participation in the WHO Global Covid-19 Vaccine Access Center, known as Covax. He said the country was part of the African Vaccine Procurement Task Force that is seeking alternative funding mechanisms to secure additional vaccines for African countries beyond Covax.
Mkhize was part of this task force and was also seeking partnerships with the private sector to ensure that South Africans had access to an effective vaccine appropriate to the conditions in the country, Ramaphosa said. DM / MC
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