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President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Monday night that South Africa’s Covid19 vaccine strategy was well underway.
This, as the country, charted a path to achieving immunity across the population through a massive programme of vaccination.
Addressing the nation on Monday night, President Ramaphosa said the development of several effective vaccines is the most significant and most promising advance since the onset of the global pandemic.
“We have always said that an effective vaccine will be a game-changer. Vaccines offer to the peoples of the world a means to control the coronavirus pandemic,” he said.
Ramaphosa reiterated that scientists estimate that around 67% of the population or 40 million people would need to be vaccinated to achieve so-called herd immunity.
“We have put in place a comprehensive vaccination strategy to reach all parts of the country. This will be the largest and most complex logistical undertaking in our country’s history,” Ramaphosa announced.
He said the government’s strategy has several parts, the first of which is to acquire enough vaccine doses to reach herd immunity.
The second part is to identify the priority groups, including health workers, that need to be vaccinated as doses are received while part three is to distribute the vaccines throughout the country and to administer them to those identified to receive them.
Ramaphosa said in Phase 1 of the rollout government would prioritise around 1.2 million front line health workers while during phase two when more vaccines arrive, essential workers such as teachers, police, municipal workers and other frontline personnel would be prioritised.”
Phase two will also target people in institutions like old age homes, shelters and prisons, people over 60 years of age and adults with co-morbidities.
“The total number we plan to reach in this phase is around 16 million people,” the President said. Phase 3, with increased manufacturer supplies, we will then vaccinate the remaining adult population of approximately 22.5 million people.
“We have established a national coordinating committee, which brings together key government departments, the private sector and other stakeholders to oversee the implementation of our national strategy,” President Ramaphosa said.
The President said there were still some who remain sceptical about vaccines, saying there is much disinformation and conspiracy theories being spread about the COVID-19 vaccines.
He said vaccines have been used to eradicate diseases such as smallpox and polio while children get vaccinated routinely against many diseases such as mumps, measles-rubella, and travellers are often vaccinated against diseases like yellow fever.
“Every vaccine that will be used in our programme will have to be approved by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority, which applies stringent scientific standards to ensure the safety and efficacy of any drug or treatment,” he said.
