BusinessLive reports that the government’s monopoly on the buying and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines is to be challenged in court by trade union Solidarity and NGO AfriForum. They have instructed their legal team to prepare a case for such a challenge.
“The two organisations want to ensure that those who seek to get the vaccine are not obstructed from doing so by government mismanagement or corruption,” the organisations indicated in a statement. Health minister Zweli Mkhize has made it clear that all vaccines will be acquired and distributed by the national government, which has so far secured 1.5-million doses of the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s vaccine for health workers from the Serum Institute of India. One-million doses are due to arrive in January and a further 500,000 in February. The government has also signed up to get vaccines under the Covax global facility. But, there has been mounting public concern — including by high-profile health professionals — about the delay by the government in securing a supply of vaccines when many other countries have already started rolling out their vaccination programmes. AfriForum’s Ernst van Zyl said the government could not have a monopoly on deciding who received the vaccine and that they were seeking “to prevent the potential abuse of government power as it relates to the buying and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, by fighting to allow the private sector to assist in this endeavour.” Solidarity Research Institute head Connie Mulder added that SA could not allow the nationalisation of vaccines. “The state has a history of failures and SA cannot afford another failure during this crisis,” he pointed out.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive
- Read too, Unions blast Mkhize’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out plan, at The Star
- And also, Unions slam vaccine strategy, at BusinessLive
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page