If govt says don’t panic – do

When government tells you not to panic – amid the country being in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic – that is when you become very worried. South Africa – with a population of at least 58.56 million people – has hardly made a dent when it comes to the inoculation of its citizens.

Except for the SA Medical Research Council-driven Sisonke clinical trial study, which has made it possible for President Cyril Ramaphosa, his deputy, David Mabuza, Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize and front-line healthcare workers to be inoculated with the single Johnson & Johnson dose, South Africa’s roll-out vaccine programme has hardly begun. Early signs of what is expected to be a biting winter – already upon us – spell disastrous consequences.

While other countries have budgeted for and ensured early roll-outs of vaccination programmes, we have become accustomed to government speak ranging from “we are talking to manufacturers across the world” and “talks are at an advanced stage”. With vaccines being produced at an Aspen factory in Port Elizabeth, are such explanations plausible?

This week’s arrival of a batch of 325 260 doses of Pfizer vaccines, with the same number of doses promised to land on a weekly basis, is welcome news. But the truth is that it is a drop in the ocean. Another pledge is that millions of vaccine doses are expected here by end June.

With 318 670 healthcare workers having been vaccinated since the roll-out of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine – which was halted after reports of rare blood clotting in the US – we are far behind what we should have achieved.

Our biggest problem is that – with a track record of graft in personal protective equipment tenders involving some bigwigs – government now wants us to take it at its word, resisting private sector intervention. We are expected to be calm and not panic, while the politically connected are unashamedly on a looting spree.

Mkhize has this week resorted to his usual refrain: “No need to panic.” This comes as a patient, who recently travelled from India to SA, tested positive for Covid-19. Experts have been unequivocal – stop the flights to and from India.

With India having become the global pandemic epicentre – over 300 000 new Covid-19 cases reported daily and fatalities largely driven by the B.1.617 variant – it is enough to frighten us, should anyone from that country land on our shores.

We are already reeling from our own variant N501Y – which has seen us being blocked from travelling to other countries – which we accepted, without reservation. We did not see responses from other countries as xenophobic, racist, inward-looking or politically incorrect. This requires leaders who put the safety and interests of citizens first. It is about tough love.

Dr Nathi Mdladla, chief of the intensive care unit at the Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital, put it this way: “Putting restrictions on travelling to and from India should be a priority. The Indian variant is deemed to be a more transmissible band, therefore highly contagious.”

National Institute of Communicable Diseases acting executive director Professor Adrian Puren said SA could soon find itself limiting flights from India, enforcing compulsory testing and quarantining travellers, as the only option to curb variant importation.

SA could soon find itself limiting flights from India, enforcing compulsory testing and quarantining travellers, as the only option to curb variant importation.