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The MEC of Health in the Western Cape Nomafrench Mbombo said that more healthcare workers died during the second wave of Covid-19 in December. Photo: Lulekwa Mbadamane.
- Western Cape Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo has asked for clear guidance on when large quantities of Covid-19 vaccines will arrive in South Africa.
- He said workers were telling him they couldn’t stay home any longer due to downsizing and that they were hungry.
- The arrival of vaccines will also help restore normal health service delivery after many procedures and services were disrupted by the pandemic.
“When are we going to get our shots?”
This is a plea from the Western Cape Health MEC, Nomafrench Mbombo, who said he heard regularly from those who were desperate to return to a proper job to support themselves and their families.
“Women from the poorest communities say they cannot stay home, they need to work,” Mbombo added at the province’s weekly briefing on its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said they were hungry and faced with the reality that companies were only hiring two of the usual five people, and they could no longer survive like this.
Mbombo added that the uncertainty surrounding the massive rollout of the vaccines was also putting the overall healthcare system in a precarious position as it tried to recover many of the non-Covid healthcare services that were disrupted by the pandemic.
He said the workers he had spoken with not only wanted to know that vaccines had been secured, but that negotiations were continuing, they needed actual arrival dates.
“I just hope that by the end of this month, which is next week, we have a clear guide.”
The Western Cape has tried to source additional vaccines from Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson (J&J), the two vaccines that the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has approved for use, but were told those companies will only do business with the National Health Department. Health, not provinces.
The head of the Western Cape Health Department, Dr. Keith Cloete, said that only 36,098 of the health workers selected for the Sisonke J&J trial had been vaccinated in the province on March 24. A total of 132,000 had been planned for the first phase.
The government now plans to vaccinate 22 million citizens between November 2021 and February 2022. This is a clear admission that it will not meet its previously set goal of vaccinating 67% of the population by the end of the year, as promised by Minister Mkhize. . https://t.co/hnsISfrFKp
– News24 (@ News24) March 25, 2021
Cloete added that it was anticipated that 50% of healthcare workers would be covered with the limited doses received through the Sisonke program and the remaining 50% were expected to be covered with the expected delivery of sufficient doses of Pfizer.
He said the trial had revealed no major adverse effects, with most of the side effects being swelling at the injection site or a mild, short-term fever.
However, the test has been useful in planning for the complexities of a mass deployment.
Cloete added that South Africa was expecting the arrival of Pfizer vaccines in April, and then, in the coming months, expedited deliveries of Pfizer and J&J vaccines. Both received approval from SAHPRA.
Of the possible vaccine options, he explained that:
Covishield got approval, but the launch was suspended.
Moderna has not yet submitted to SAHPRA and is not imminent before the third quarter.
Sputnik, Sinopharm and Sinovac have submitted applications to SAHPRA, but approvals are not imminent.
Regarding Novavax and Bharat Biotech, no application for approval has yet been submitted.
Meanwhile, the Western Cape government has received 28 unsolicited offers for the supply of vaccines, and the evaluation of these should be complete by the first week of April.
The province expects its own vaccine purchases to begin in August.
The health department expects that if the J&J doses are administered from the second and third quarters of 2021, and the Pfizer doses are secured from the second quarter onward, the required supply shortfall for winter could fall to 3 , 5 million.
The types of Covid-19 vaccines. (Health Department)
News24 Department of Health
Vaccines (Department of Health)
News24 Department of Health
Estimated vaccination schedule (Department of Health)
News24 Department of Health
This could save up to 40,000 lives, lead to 200,000 fewer hospitalizations and save more than R8 billion in healthcare costs.
The national goal is to vaccinate between 250,000 and 300,000 people per day, and the Western Cape does so between 30,000 and 36,000 of those.
Health departments are currently working to secure small, medium, and large sites for this.
Small sites will be in pharmacies, community clinics, and general practitioner rooms; medium sites would be hospitals, medical centers, and select retail locations; and the mass venues would be gymnasiums and retail spaces, conference centers, and stadiums.
Meanwhile, the possibility of a third wave is still on everyone’s mind, despite the Western Cape marking a day without Civid-19 deaths on Wednesday.
The breeding number is still below 1, no traces of Covid-19 were found in the Cape Town city wastewater treatment plants last week, and deaths, positivity from tests and use oxygen had decreased.
However, Prime Minister Alan Winde urged people not to turn Easter into a wide-spread weekend.
“Each of us has to make sure we are not part of a super spreader event this weekend, or at any time,” he said.
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