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The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says it is not impressed by the country’s Covid-19 vaccine implementation strategy and that the government has not acted in a timely and effective manner.
Cosatu is the largest trade federation in the country with an estimated membership of 1.8 million workers.
The group criticized a medium instructions by Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize on Sunday evening, who focused on the launch of the vaccine, calling the meeting a “public relations exercise.”
“A strong and compelling vaccine procurement and distribution strategy should have been developed sooner, and by now the government should be starting the implementation process and not making vague commitments,” he said.
“The pending list that includes telephone calls, bilateral calls, investigation, authorization of which the minister speaks should have been made four months ago, in September last year, when there were already indications that a vaccine was likely in the first quarter of 2021 “.
The federation called Mkhize’s briefing “incomprehensible” and said the government leadership had been “caught” by a deadly pandemic raging in the country.
“What the minister presented is nonsense, and the country should not accept it. South Africans are familiar with the blatant policy failures with deadly consequences as we saw with the mismanagement of the AIDS pandemic.
“It is clear that we are dealing with colossal mismanagement of the vaccine procurement process and front-line workers, the elderly, and people with comorbidities will pay with their lives.”
Cosatu said there are 40 countries that have already started immunizing their citizens, some since December and even some of South Africa’s peers in the middle-income group.
“The government is only informing us about a plan to cover between 3% and 10% by June. That doesn’t even include the logistics of making the actual vaccines that could take us until August, ”said Cosatu.
Launch in phases
Mkhize provided an outline of South Africa’s Covid-19 vaccine deployment strategy in a public address on Sunday night (January 3).
“We are targeting a minimum of 67% of the population to achieve herd immunity and the focus will be on a gradual rollout of the vaccine starting with the most vulnerable of our population,” said the minister.
He said the only way to deal with a second wave is to develop herd immunity through vaccination.
“Vaccines should be available quickly so that the majority of our citizens are covered by the end of the first year of implementation, this year,” said the minister.
“Having secured 10% of the population, we have embarked on other efforts to make the remaining 57% of the population the target by the end of 2021 but, more importantly, we are making efforts to obtain vaccines much earlier. hopefully in February 2021, ”he said.
The priority of the vaccine launch will begin with healthcare workers, the elderly and people with comorbidities.
“At the end of phase 3 – 40,350,000 citizens will have been immunized, which is equivalent to approximately 67.25% of the population as we have indicated,” said the minister.
The government said it will need to raise funds to cope with the rest of the population. Mkhize said the 1.8 billion rand set aside for vaccines has already been used. The minister said the government has approached the Solidarity Fund to help in the procurement process.
Dr Mkhize said: “To optimize stock availability for ourselves, we are negotiating with all manufacturers and going after those who are indicating an appetite for vaccines to be available earlier.
“We are in delicate discussions. I have participated in some of these discussions and I can mention some of them, Astra Zeneca, Moderna, etc. “
In addition, the minister said that the government has embarked on public-private partnerships “with very good results and we have approached medical aid to be part of the co-financing.”
“The process is now at a stage where the Medical Schemes Council has compromised various medical schemes and I have signed amendments to the regulations to allow vaccines and other therapies to be part of the prescribed minimum benefits,” he said.
Read: Africa was left with few vaccine options, says South Africa
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