Government must immediately begin the rollout of our 1 million AstraZeneca vaccines

19 March 2021

The DA calls on government to immediately begin with the rollout of the one million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine that are currently lying in storage in the Biovac warehouse in Gauteng. There is now broad scientific consensus that this vaccine is not only safe, but also largely effective. Allowing these vaccines to expire in the warehouse because government couldn’t manage a rollout plan would be an unforgivable dereliction of its duty to protect its own citizens.

Last month Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said that the plan with these vaccines would depend on the advice from leading scientists. Since then both the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as local vaccinology and pandemic experts such as WITS University’s Professor Shabir Madhi and Professor Alex van den Heever, have all given the green light on the vaccine’s safety and efficacy. Countries such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain have also said they would resume with administering AstraZeneca to their citizens.

While the AstraZeneca shot may not offer full protection against the 501.V2 variant of the virus, it certainly does protect against the original variant, as well as offering protection against severe illness and death. With the elderly and those with co-morbidities facing the daunting prospect of a third wave of Covid-19 with no protection as we head into winter, it would be criminal to let these vaccines go to waste.

Whether these million doses are split up into two batches to administer the first and second shot, or whether all one million are used for a first shot, and we then order the second shot from the Serum Institute of India (which are available to us), we have no time to waste in starting the rollout. Holding out for a buyer on the African continent who is prepared to pay the same inflated amount as we did would also be a kick in the teeth of every South African desperately looking for protection from the virus.

There is no disputing the fact that government has dropped the ball on its most important procurement since the start of our democracy. By dithering and delaying while other countries were ordering vaccines and preparing rollout plans, it has put every citizen in South Africa at grave risk. While comparable countries like Chile and Rwanda are vaccinating their populations at rates of 300,000 and 70,000 a day respectively, we’re barely managing 7,000 doses a day. And beyond these initial tiny test batches of Johnson & Johnson vaccines, we have no confirmed delivery date of any meaningful amounts. That is a shameful failure of government.

But this is made even worse by the fact that we have R75 million worth of vaccines lying in a Johannesburg warehouse - vaccines for which we overpaid five times and which the president went to collect from the airport amid much fanfare and media coverage - and government now seems happy to let them expire. These AstraZeneca vaccines must immediately be rolled out to vulnerable citizens, or government must come clean on why it refuses to do so.

Statement issued by John Steenhuisen MP, Leader of the Democratic Alliance, 19 March 2021