‘Anyone can import vaccine’

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD: ANYONE CAN PROCURE JABS

Widespread relief as govt admits there is no legal restriction on securing medicine.

Covid-19 vaccines may soon be more freely available with various options to choose from after the local civil rights group AfriForum dragged the government to court to get answers about the procurement of the vaccinations.

Yesterday, AfriForum announced the government had admitted under oath in its court documents there was no legal restriction on the private sector purchasing Covid-19 vaccines.

Solidarity trade union chief executive Dr Dirk Hermann said the state had a history of failure.

“The SAA [South African Airways] has fallen; Eskom turned off our lights; municipalities are bankrupt and Denel cannot pay their employees’ salaries,” Hermann said.

“The government does not have the ability to manage the vaccine process themselves. This includes the purchasing of vaccines.

“The private sector must be involved with the full vaccine value chain – from procurement to the administering of the vaccine.”

AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said the playing field had now been levelled.

The organisation was against the centralisation of the procurement of the vaccine because the government had a bad reputation for corruption and incompetence.

“If you can’t fix a pothole, how can you be the only one to procure the Covid-19 vaccines?”

Kriel said centralising procurement was like putting all your eggs in one basket.

“Let’s open the playing field in the fight against a common enemy, Covid-19,” he said.

As a civil rights organisation, AfriForum would fight for the constitutional right of the people to decide if they want to be vaccinated or not and have access to vaccines.

With the current pace of the government vaccine roll-out, herd immunity would not be achieved, either.

AfriForum confirmed it has had discussions with stakeholders to secure Covid-19 vaccines.

Professor Alex van den Heever from the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Governance said centralising the procurement of vaccines was not consistent with equality of the constitution. High-risk groups should be prioritised.

“If the private sector can supplement what the public sector could not, it’s all good,” he said.

Bianca Capazario, spokeswoman for Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, said the province had approved the framework of contingency vaccine acquisition and procurement and had kept national government informed. –