Improved vaccination roll-out rate the key to success – experts

Many experts have insisted vaccinations must be accelerated if new surges are to be prevented in future.

In a tweet, Netcare Pulmonologist Dr Frans Skhosana said “the answer to this crisis is mass vaccination of everyone. Vaccines work. The money spent on corrupt activities and setting up temporary beds could’ve secured vaccines”.

Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) chief executive Busi Mavuso also said the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic would only be won through the rapid distribution of vaccines.

She said President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call to increase the vaccination rate to 300 000 per day would be an impressive achievement.

“The extension of vaccines to the over-50s is a big step in widening access and the focused programme to vaccinate teachers that launched last Wednesday is an important measure to ensure education is not further disrupted,” she said in BLSA’s weekly newsletter.

“The pace of the roll-out to teachers was particularly impressive, with 48 000 jabs administered on the first day and a target of vaccinating all 582 000 teachers and school personnel within 10 days.”

Epidemiologist Dr Jo Barnes said given the high risk to the elderly and the high mortality rate among them, it was essential that the vaccine drive for persons above 60 years old be completed with great speed.

“The roll-out programme is slow and there are problems with people being called up to vaccination sites that don’t have adequate supplies.

“Also, the elderly are the most challenged when it comes to accessing an electronic data base to register,” said Barnes.

“If the first section of the population to be vaccinated is so poorly covered, how will the much larger portion fare?”

Kgothatso Molefe said after a colleague tested positive, she felt a little feverish and was constantly tired, so she went to the Soshanguve Block BB clinic to test and was told she had flu.

“It’s really weird that now we have to beg to be tested,” Molefe said.

“I was turned back from two clinics in Soshanguve and I was also told they do not test on weekends or after noon during weekdays.”