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For months, the message has been that normalcy would only really return when there is a viable and readily available coronavirus vaccine.
CAPE TOWN – Public health experts are warning South Africans not to hold their breath to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in the first half of next year.
The nation is in the grip of the second wave of COVID-19 infections. Two hundred and ten more people died in the country after contracting the coronavirus, bringing the national death toll to 23,661.
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On Tuesday, the Health Department also said 7,552 new infections were detected in the past day, bringing the known number of cases since the outbreak began to more than 873,000.
For months, the message has been that normalcy would only really return when there is a viable and readily available vaccine.
The UK and the US started their mass vaccination campaigns last week relying on so-called emergency use authorizations from their health authorities.
The problem is that the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) cannot use those authorizations to approve the vaccine for use in the country.
Wits University lead researcher and public health attorney Safura Abdool Karim explained that SAHPRA has to go through its own validation process, which could delay implementation.
“People are optimistic that by the middle of next year, it could be later depending on how long it takes to get approvals,” Karim said.
Then there is the question of how to divide the limited doses of vaccines that we have.
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Covax, the global initiative aimed at working with vaccine manufacturers to provide countries around the world with equitable access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, has a recommended protocol.
But the situation in South Africa is complicated by high levels of comorbidity including HIV, tuberculosis, diabetes, and hypertension.
“All of these things make the population particularly vulnerable,” Karim said.
Epidemiologist Salim Abdool Karim said it’s a fair assumption that front-line healthcare workers would be the first to get the vaccine, but the government hasn’t really figured out how to distribute limited doses beyond that.
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