If one thing sums up the stoic nature of many South Africans, it’s their ability to sit for hours in seemingly endless queues for this or that government service. Given the chaotic nature of the vaccine lineups across the country this week – as health workers rushed at the last minute to get shots from Johnson & Johnson as part of the Sisonke Study Project – we should all be worried, very worried, that similar scenes don’t happen. t play from Monday of next week, when the second phase of the vaccination program is due to start. In the lines of yesterday, there …
If one thing sums up the stoic nature of many South Africans, it’s their ability to sit for hours in seemingly endless queues for this or that government service.
Given the chaotic nature of the vaccine lineups across the country this week – as health workers rushed at the last minute to get shots from Johnson & Johnson as part of the Sisonke Study Project – we should all be worried, very worried, that similar scenes don’t happen. t play from Monday of next week, when the second phase of the vaccination program is due to start.
In yesterday’s lines, there was little respect for the rules of social distancing – which isn’t easy when you’re anxious and lined up for five hours or more – so the vaccination process has may have been counterproductive in that it could have been a “superspreader†event.
The assurances from the Department of Health that phase two will be ordered are no real assurance at all.
This is because the whole government approach to vaccines and immunizations has been contradictory and
confusing.
We declined the AstraZeneca doses because we thought they would be ineffective – when many other countries are using them.
Second, we apparently did not receive our orders in time for the full stocks of vaccine to be procured. The bottom line: We are behind most of the rest of the world – and by some estimates it would take a decade, at the current rate, to vaccinate the 70% of the population, which would ensure community immunity.
There are still 40 million more people who need to get hit. It looks like a mountain to climb.
The Covid vaccination process must not be allowed to turn into another disaster, along with the rest of the disasters inflicted on us by our ANC leaders.
