Cape’s plan to defeat Covid-19

PREMIER Alan Winde is marching ahead with his plan to procure vaccines and has put a budget in place.

This is despite Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize telling the premier that there was no need for him to procure vaccines.

“I will not decommission our procurement plan. We have put a budget in place and the minister is aware of our plans,” said Winde.

Winde said he was unhappy with the progress the country has made on its vaccine roll-out, saying it was disappointing that the country was behind, compared to other African countries.

“It is quite embarrassing that we stand here as a country where, quite frankly, Ivory Coast has vaccinated more people than we have. Nigeria, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Botswana, Senegal, Ghana, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Morocco are by far the leaders in vaccinating their people, and we have only had the first real shipment for roll-out, so of course we have to make sure we mitigate this risk,” he said.

Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier announced in March, when he tabled the Western Cape budget, that they had set aside a R2.17 billion “war chest” to defeat Covid-19 in the province.

Maynier said the money would be used for procuring the vaccines, the rolling out the vaccines and the province’s response to a potential third wave.

About 30 000 Pfizer vaccines arrived in the province on Thursday and the launch of phase 2 of the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out was expected to begin on Monday.

The Sisonke trial also came to an end on Friday.

President Cyril Ramaphosa in his letter has asked citizens to rally behind the country’s efforts to achieve herd immunity.

Safura Abdool Karim, a public health lawyer at Wits University, said the provincial government had no powers to procure vaccines.

She added that the Western Cape would require SA Health Products Regulatory Authority's approval for any vaccine they roll out.