The African National Congress (ANC) has expressed confidence in government’s coronavirus vaccination rollout plan – saying people must continue to use preventative measures against the coronavirus until the country has achieved herd immunity.
This after the Democratic Alliance (DA) submitted an urgent application to the Western Cape High Court this week, requesting the court to compel government to provide a comprehensive and coordinated COVID-19 vaccination plan.
The ANC’s Gwen Ramokgopa explains: “The South African government has indeed prioritised the implementation of this intervention. While we will not start with everyone, we must continue with preventative measures until we are able to reach the whole population and at minimum, herd immunity. We are confident that with the plans that have been put in place and the institutional mechanisms, as welcome the first vaccines tomorrow, the rollout will certainly take place.”
However, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is not convinced that the government’s vaccination plan will be a success – saying they do not believe the Department of Health has a well-financed programme to achieve herd immunity.
EFF MP, Naledi Chirwa, explains: “The fact that the vaccine is not being rolled out to each and every South African and every person that is in this country is an admittance of failure on the ANC government and we are part of the top 15 of countries with the highest infection rate – and yet 40 countries have already rolled out vaccines to their citizens except for SA.”
“They took the money out of the coffers of the state and decided to spread it among themselves. The deposit of the vaccine was only paid by the Solidarity Fund and not from treasury which is another thing that alludes to the fact that SA was never ready to roll out the vaccine. Now they are putting the obligation and the mandate of the NDOH to the private sector through the tender system,” Chirwa adds.
The political parties express their views on the matter in the video below:
Traditional healers concerned
Traditional healers have expressed concern that they will be left out when other healthcare workers are vaccinated against COVID-19 in the coming weeks.
President of the SADC Unified Traditional Practitioners Association, Professor Sylvester Hlati, says traditional healers and practitioners should be included in the first phase of vaccine rollout that’s set to benefit frontline healthcare workers.
“It is important because traditional practitioners are everywhere; 85% of our communities, visit traditional practitioners on a daily basis. So it is very important to start with traditional practitioners because we are also healthcare workers. The Constitution recognises us. The constitution says as well that we are equal to the doctors, we are equal to the nurses, so why are they leaving us behind?,” he asks.
Explainer video of vaccination rollout plan:
