It was with much relief, elation and a renewed sense of hope that many healthcare workers enrolled in the
But the relief and elation has given way to frustration and disillusionment. The country's rollout is proceeding at a pace much slower than expected.
To date just over 293,000 South Africans have had received their jab, which represents only a fraction of the 1,25 million healthcare workers who are first in line. This adds up to about 0.5% of the general population. The initial target of having 67% of the country's citizens vaccinated by the end of 2021 is now unlikely to be achieved.
The new rollout plan promises to vaccinate 1.5 million by the end of
Several factors have contributed to
At the current vaccination pace it will take over a decade for
Vaccine hiccups
The biggest challenge has been access. Like other developing countries,
The WHO director,
Even as they speak the language of equitable access, some countries and companies continue to prioritise bilateral deals, ... driving up prices and attempting to jump to the front of the queue. This is wrong.
Ghebreyesus was referring to the fact that developing country governments have procured and hoarded vaccines for their own populations. Even before many of the COVID-19 vaccines had received final approval, some countries had procured several million doses of those that held promise.
An additional factor was
On top of this, there has been a series of problems with vaccines
For example, the planned rollout of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine from the
Then the
Another big issue that is likely to slow down the momentum of the country's vaccination programme is vaccine mistrust. In a survey done by the
This could be echoing a deterioration in trust in the handling of the pandemic as a whole.
Misinformation, exaggeration and de-contextualisation of facts on various social media platforms have led to a large degree of vaccine mistrust among people. Aside from conspiracy theories and grossly inaccurate misrepresentations of facts, there is an increasing mistrust in science, pharmaceutical companies and authorities.
The road ahead
Balancing efficacy, safety, storage requirements and sustainability when it comes to vaccine selection is no easy task. But some countries have managed it better than others.
The human and economic cost of passively allowing the pandemic to run its course in an era where vaccines are available is unacceptable. In addition, the emergence of variants is a compelling reason to step up vaccination efforts. Suboptimal levels of immunity will mean more people get ill and die. It will also increase the likelihood new variants emerging.
The South African government needs to shift gear on a number of fronts.
It needs to make vaccine procurement a budget priority and procure more vaccines.
Secondly, it needs to clarify urgently what the requirements are for the involvement of private medical providers in the vaccine rollout. It also needs to expand the number of platforms (such as local clinics, GP practices, pharmacies, and private and state facilities) on which the vaccines are rolled out. If ever there was a need for public-private collaboration it is now - both in terms of funding vaccines and in providing platforms. This would enable large-scale vaccination to occur at the pace needed to turn the tide against COVID-19 in
The government also needs to do more to raise public awareness and dispel myths at community level.
Clearly this will have to be a collaborative effort between all stakeholders - from international efforts for equity, to engagement by the pharmaceutical industry, procurement by government, the involvement of private sector players and widespread information and education of the general public.
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