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DA calls on Thandi Modise to schedule urgent debate vaccine roll-out

31 December 2020, 12:30 PM |

SABC | @SABCNews

The DA will be writing to the Speaker on Thursday.

Image: Reuters

The DA will be writing to the Speaker on Thursday.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Parliament is calling for the Speaker of the National Assembly Thandi Modise to schedule an urgent debate on government’s roll-out of the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine plan.

Earlier this week President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his address to the nation on the adjusted alert level 3 lockdown that the roll-out of the COVID 19 vaccine would only start in the second quarter of 2021. DA says Parliament as the constitutional body in overseeing the work of the executive is obliged to treat the matter as urgent.

DA Chief Whip Natasha Mazzone says the response from the speaker that the matter should be debated once government has provided more details on the implementation is not sufficient.

The DA will be writing to the Speaker today, urging her to reconsider the scheduling of the vaccine debate.

Just like the second quarter is too late for the vaccine, so February is too late for a debate of this importance. – @Natasha9Mazzone

— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) December 31, 2020

We note the response by the Speaker – Thandi Modise to our request for the urgent re-convening of Parliament to debate the COVID-19 vaccine plan.

Just like the 2nd quarter is too late for the vaccine, February is too late for a debate of this importance. https://t.co/K0Di8gWhQY

— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) December 31, 2020

Meanwhile, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says there is still no clarity on when a vaccine to combat the coronavirus will land on South African soil.

Several countries have already received shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca jabs.

Mkhize says the department is waiting on the relevant authorities to deliver the vaccines to South Africa.

“We have constraints in terms of financial resources. We have paid the deposit to the Covax facility, which has an order to deliver for the first ten percent of the population. That ten percent is settled and we are going to wait for Covax – which will be the one to deliver to us those amounts.

Dr. Mkhize says health workers and the vulnerable in society will be among the first to receive a vaccine to combat the coronavirus.

“What we can say to South Africans is that our first target, once we get the vaccines, will be the health workers and the vulnerable groups. When we are ready with all of that information we will make it public. At the moment there is a lot of behind the scenes work and negotiations and we will only announce once we are ready with it.”