Thursday | February 11, 2021

South Africa (SA) is still in the midst of the raging Covid-19 pandemic that has taken a turn for worse with the discovery of the new variants.

The SA government is working around the clock to secure vaccines in order to alleviate the spread and suppress the viral scourge completely. For now, that realisation is a distant objective. After months of research and testing, pharmaceutical manufacturers are turning the corner. There is no cure yet for coronavirus.

In SA, President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured citizens that vaccines will be procured and inoculation starts as soon as possible. First in the queue for vaccination will be health workers who have been in the troughs of coronavirus months on end. 

On securing vaccines and rebooting the economy, tonight’s addresses by the President will bring some form clarity in one way or another. So much is expected today by the citizens reeling from the loss of their loved ones, the closure of businesses and jobs shedding occasioned by this global epidemic.

The SA situation is compounded by the Oxford-AstraZeneca, known as AZ, vaccine which performed below expectations in the efficacy realm. It is not all lost though. The World Health Organisation (WHO) urged South Africa Feb. 10 to put the vaccine to good use.

Thus, in the wake of variants, AZ in its current form should be directed to groups that stand to benefit the most as recommended by WHO. The custodian of health in the world said that SA must inoculate the current available AZ vaccine on its possession those who are over 65 years of age.

In the mean time, a volume of one million vaccines were acquired by the SA government from the Serum Institute in India, one of the production bases of AZ. The batches of AZ vaccines were procured and already in the country, were targeted to benefit health and other frontline workers.

However, a recent scientific study revealed that the efficacy rate of AZ vaccine against the dominant Covid-19 variant dubbed 501Y-V2 found in SA is underwhelming. Consequently, the government pulled the plug on the vaccination drive of the target groups. This has triggered a streak of discontent across the vast expanse of SA – the second biggest economy in Africa.

So much so the government received vile and sharp critisism from all corners of the country. On an effort to err on the side of caution, it reached out to WHO for guidance. AstraZeneca vaccines can not be thrown away, they have to be used, WHO adviced in a cordial tone to encourage countries like South Africa not to waste.

Now the state has shifted its focus and has secured a nine (9) million jabs from Johnson & Johnson which has shown a higher efficacy rate on the new variant in SA. The consignment of AstraZeneca vaccine delivered from India on Feb. 1 will be redirected to another group of the population as indicated by WHO. The expiry date of these (AZ) jabs is April this year.