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South Africa is part of the Public Health Emergency Solidarity Trial under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize briefed the media on March 16, 2020 on the government’s plans to curb the spread of the coronavirus in South Africa. Image: Sethembiso Zulu / EWN
CAPE TOWN – Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has acted to allay fears about South Africa’s participation in trials for a COVID-19 vaccine.
South Africa is part of the Public Health Emergency Solidarity Trial under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Several countries will assist in the development and testing of possible vaccines.
Mkhize said that times had changed considerably and concerns about the ethics of participating in vaccine trials were unfounded.
“All the research work that is done now is mediated by ethics committees and there is no way that abuse will be accepted or tolerated.”
The Minister of Health told parliamentarians that South Africa had the intellectual capacity and skills to be part of something that helped the entire world, in addition to increasing global knowledge about COVID-19.
But there is also another important benefit.
“Countries that would have been at the forefront of vaccine development through their trials will be the first to have access to the vaccine.”
More than 40 vaccines are currently being developed, four of which are in the initial testing phase.
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