News of vaccine a setback for country

OUR hopes were raised when the Covid-19 vaccine touched down at OR Tambo International Airport.

And then, with not a single dose administered, they went out with a puff like a burst balloon. Tests showed that the Astrazeneca vaccine from India was ineffective against the Covid-19 variant found in our country.

It had to be us. What do we do now? Stay homebound and wait for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine to arrive from America?

Did President Ramaphosa act in haste when lifting the level 3 lockdown rules? It’s easy to blame him. But what was he to do? He was in a dilemma. The economy was in a bad state and he was under pressure from the liquor and hospitality industries to ease the lockdown restrictions and save jobs.

Now all we can do is watch enviously as the rest of the world rolls out their vaccine programmes.

As always, the US leads the way. Under Trump there were no co-ordinated, national measures to fight the virus. Each state was doing its own thing. Americans mingled freely, often without masks.

The death rate soared and soon the US led with the most coronavirus deaths in the world. Despite its shambolic Covid-19 policy, it now leads in the vaccine race with over 45 million vaccinated.

Way behind is China, the world’s most densely populated nation, with a mere 15 million doses.

The UK comes next with 13 millions jabs, closely followed by the EU with 12 million.

At the bottom of the table sits South Africa. Britain has already started its second dose; we have not given one jab yet.

T MARKANDAN | Kloof