BL Premium reports that health minister Joe Phaahla told MPs on Tuesday that the government was exploring the scope for businesses and public amenities to demand proof of Covid-19 vaccination from patrons.

He said he was "quite certain" that once SA had attained sufficient vaccine coverage, business owners and the government could legally require the users of their facilities to be vaccinated. "Our own preference would be for people to come voluntarily. But you can’t have your cake and eat it. If you want to enjoy your right not to be vaccinated, you can’t also say you have the right to put other people at risk," Phaahla told the National Council of Provinces. He went on to explain that persons who had been vaccinated were less likely to transmit the virus if they became infected, because they had a lower viral load than people who had not been inoculated. The issue of vaccine passports has previously been flighted by Limpopo health MEC Phophi Ramathuba, who has been lobbying the liquor industry to sell only to people who have been inoculated. As of 30 August, SA had administered a total of 12.29-million vaccine doses, but only 5.8-million people out of a total adult population of 39.8-million were fully immunised. Phaahla expressed concern about what he described as a "very strong, orchestrated and organised" campaign to discredit coronavirus vaccines,

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
• Read too, SA considers limiting public amenities to the vaccinated, at Engineering News

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page