Bloomberg reports that SA’s Covid-19 vaccination program has been partially halted as violent protests following the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma rage in two key provinces.
State-administered inoculations have been suspended in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and parts of Gauteng, Nicholas Crisp, a consultant to the National Health Department, advised. Crisp said in an interview on Tuesday: “We are clearly not going to be putting our staff in harm’s way,” adding that those queuing for vaccines could also be in danger. “It (vaccinations) will just have to wait until things calm down,” he indicated. Before the violence erupted at the weekend, inoculation numbers had been climbing steadily toward a target of 300,000 a day set by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The disruption is the latest blow to a rollout that’s been criticised for its late start and remains at a nascent stage. The setback comes as SA is in the grip of a third wave of Covid-19 infections that have led to the imposition of a curfew, a ban on alcohol sales and restrictions on movement. The unrest has also disrupted access to essential health services, including the collection of chronic medication by tuberculosis, HIV and diabetes patients in some districts in both KZN and Gauteng. Vaccinations and testing by private companies have also been disrupted. Dis-Chem closed all its pharmacies in KZN on Monday, while some of its outlets in Gauteng have also been affected by the unrest. Clicks has had to close 106 vaccination sites and 279 pharmacy and health stores. Discovery shuttered all its vaccination sites bar one in Cape Town on Tuesday.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Antony Sguazzin at Moneyweb
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