With South Africa gearing to receive its first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines, President Cyril Ramaphosa has reiterated that government’s mass vaccination campaign strategy would reach all corners of the country, prioritising those most in need.
The President emphasised the commitment in the latest edition of his weekly newsletter on Monday 25 January
In coming weeks, the country will receive a batch of 1.5 million Astrazeneca vaccine doses from the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine producer.
This, wrote the President, will signal the start of a mass vaccination campaign that will be the most ambitious and extensive in the country’s history.
“It will reach all parts of the country and will be phased to ensure that those most in need are prioritised. The first vaccines to arrive will be provided to health care workers, who will be targeted in the first phase.
“The second phase will include essential workers, teachers, the elderly and those with co-morbidities. The third phase will include other adults in the population,” President Ramaphosa said.
The comprehensive rollout strategy and an accompanying logistical framework will be implemented in partnership with the private sector, civil society, traditional leadership, the religious sector and others.
“It is vital that this is a society-wide campaign, in which everyone is involved and no-one is left behind,” he wrote.
“A year after the novel coronavirus started spreading around the world, the arrival of the vaccine gives great hope for our country’s social and economic recovery – and, most importantly, for the health of our people.”
The President said given the unprecedented global demand for vaccine doses, combined with the far greater buying power of wealthier countries, South Africa had to engage in extensive and protracted negotiations with manufacturers to secure enough vaccines to reach the country’s adult population.
“South Africa has engaged closely with the global COVAX facility and the African Union’s Vaccine Acquisition Task Team as part of the collective effort to secure vaccines for the world’s low- and middle-income countries. The doses that South Africa will receive through its participation in these initiatives, together with the agreements being made directly with manufacturers, are expected to ensure that the country has sufficient vaccines to contain the spread of the virus,” he said.
“From the moment the Coronavirus first reached our shores in March last year, we have acted swiftly and decisively, and informed by the best available scientific evidence, to save lives and protect livelihoods. Through the measures we have taken, we have been able to contain infections, protect our health system and prevent an even greater loss of life,” said the President.
He said: “Understanding that vaccines are essential if we are to overcome the pandemic, government has been working, both through multilateral initiatives and direct negotiations with manufacturers, to ensure South Africa can make the best use of vaccines when they become available”.
Regarding concern that government has not been sufficiently transparent about these efforts, President Ramaphosa said as government did with the announcement on the Serum Institute, the details of deals with manufacturers will be released as and when negotiations are concluded and we are released from the communications terms of the non-disclosure agreements.
“This is commonplace in such circumstances, and most governments have had to comply with similar restrictions,” he said.
“We recognise that it is important that the public must be kept abreast of developments on vaccine acquisition at all times. And government must be held to account for all the decisions it makes in this regard.”
Throughout the pandemic, he said, government has been open and transparent with the South African people on the health measures it is taking to secure the safety of people.
“We have sought to explain all our decisions, to listen to people’s concerns and to continuously update the country on the state of the disease,” he said.
He added: “All of us need to be part of this national effort and not allow the spread of rumours, fear and mistrust. False information and fake news can and does put lives at risk. We all need to work together to build confidence in the vaccine, to demonstrate its effectiveness and its safety – and to emphasise its vital importance in overcoming this deadly disease”.
For its part, he wrote, government will work to improve all its channels of communication, to keep the public regularly informed on the development of the vaccination programme, to provide information that is accurate and factual, and to continue to engage with and listen to the broad range of voices in society.
“We have a massive task ahead of us, probably far greater than any of us has ever undertaken before. But if we work together, if we support and trust each other and if we keep the lines of communication open, we will certainly succeed,” said the President.
With South Africa gearing to receive its first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines, President Cyril Ramaphosa has reiterated that government’s mass vaccination campaign strategy would reach all corners of the country, prioritising those most in need.
The President emphasised the commitment in the latest edition of his weekly newsletter on Monday 25 January
In coming weeks, the country will receive a batch of 1.5 million Astrazeneca vaccine doses from the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine producer.
This, wrote the President, will signal the start of a mass vaccination campaign that will be the most ambitious and extensive in the country’s history.
“It will reach all parts of the country and will be phased to ensure that those most in need are prioritised. The first vaccines to arrive will be provided to health care workers, who will be targeted in the first phase.
“The second phase will include essential workers, teachers, the elderly and those with co-morbidities. The third phase will include other adults in the population,” President Ramaphosa said.
The comprehensive rollout strategy and an accompanying logistical framework will be implemented in partnership with the private sector, civil society, traditional leadership, the religious sector and others.
“It is vital that this is a society-wide campaign, in which everyone is involved and no-one is left behind,” he wrote.
“A year after the novel coronavirus started spreading around the world, the arrival of the vaccine gives great hope for our country’s social and economic recovery – and, most importantly, for the health of our people.”
The President said given the unprecedented global demand for vaccine doses, combined with the far greater buying power of wealthier countries, South Africa had to engage in extensive and protracted negotiations with manufacturers to secure enough vaccines to reach the country’s adult population.
“South Africa has engaged closely with the global COVAX facility and the African Union’s Vaccine Acquisition Task Team as part of the collective effort to secure vaccines for the world’s low- and middle-income countries. The doses that South Africa will receive through its participation in these initiatives, together with the agreements being made directly with manufacturers, are expected to ensure that the country has sufficient vaccines to contain the spread of the virus,” he said.
“From the moment the Coronavirus first reached our shores in March last year, we have acted swiftly and decisively, and informed by the best available scientific evidence, to save lives and protect livelihoods. Through the measures we have taken, we have been able to contain infections, protect our health system and prevent an even greater loss of life,” said the President.
He said: “Understanding that vaccines are essential if we are to overcome the pandemic, government has been working, both through multilateral initiatives and direct negotiations with manufacturers, to ensure South Africa can make the best use of vaccines when they become available”.
Regarding concern that government has not been sufficiently transparent about these efforts, President Ramaphosa said as government did with the announcement on the Serum Institute, the details of deals with manufacturers will be released as and when negotiations are concluded and we are released from the communications terms of the non-disclosure agreements.
“This is commonplace in such circumstances, and most governments have had to comply with similar restrictions,” he said.
“We recognise that it is important that the public must be kept abreast of developments on vaccine acquisition at all times. And government must be held to account for all the decisions it makes in this regard.”
Throughout the pandemic, he said, government has been open and transparent with the South African people on the health measures it is taking to secure the safety of people.
“We have sought to explain all our decisions, to listen to people’s concerns and to continuously update the country on the state of the disease,” he said.
He added: “All of us need to be part of this national effort and not allow the spread of rumours, fear and mistrust. False information and fake news can and does put lives at risk. We all need to work together to build confidence in the vaccine, to demonstrate its effectiveness and its safety – and to emphasise its vital importance in overcoming this deadly disease”.
For its part, he wrote, government will work to improve all its channels of communication, to keep the public regularly informed on the development of the vaccination programme, to provide information that is accurate and factual, and to continue to engage with and listen to the broad range of voices in society.
“We have a massive task ahead of us, probably far greater than any of us has ever undertaken before. But if we work together, if we support and trust each other and if we keep the lines of communication open, we will certainly succeed,” said the President.
The South African elections are over, and it is back to business. It needs to be business as unusual in the case of NCDs prevention and management. Business as unusual? Einstein characterised insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
When advocates argue, politicians vote, and organizations campaign, they say they are trying to shape or respond to political will. Political will is the ghost in the machine of politics, the motive force that generates political action. Charney Research
Business unusual
NCDs policy is a case in point with the now expired South African NCDs strategic plan (2013-2017) failing dismally even to scratch the surface of the epidemic. Similar to much of SA health policy, it was purely window dressing, with implementation and budgets unmeasurable. For the last decade, communicable disease (like HIV and TB) is the only health concern of politicians. Jacob Zuma and his ilk came to power on that ticket with a policy emphasising “universal access” for people living with HIV. And so national health insurance (NHI) and its identical twin, HIV treatment access, were born. Politicians and deployed officials don’t differentiate between the two. When you add “health systems strengthening” and the “Ideal Clinic” to the HIV/NHI package, it equals the current broken and siloed healthcare system.
Policy consistency as art
Let us not pretend otherwise as we head for the 2nd State of the Nation Address in 2019 with a raft of fledgeling MPs for 6th Parliament. There is zero political will deal with NCDs. Oops, there are two exceptions: fiscal measures and cancers linked to HIV (cervix and breast at a stretch). In the health bit of the 2019 ANC election manifesto, NHI and HIV remain the only priority. The same goes for the 2019 health budget. Policy consistency as an art form, only Einstein says it is insanity
So, business as unusual for people living with NCDs means acknowledging that NCDs like diabetes, stroke, heart disease and chronic lung problems are the biggest killers in South Africa. It means giving NCDs an equivalent priority alongside HIV and TB and putting the missing money where its collective mouth is.
Political will is the missing ingredient in the SDG era. It is going to take more than cheap words and a dawn walk in the name of NCDs prevention.
The Council for Medial Aid Schemes (CMS) is looking for comment on the prescribed minimum benefits. This links to South Africas National Health Insurance as well as Universal Health Coverage in its outcomes. CMS are calling for comment and it should not be forgotten that patients should be involved in this process. As it affects them the patients in the outcomes of this process.
Section 6 listed below.
Health-e News September 28, 2015
Agenda 2030 SDGs -Sustainable Development Goals
For the next 15 years, the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will guide what donors fund and what countries push – and the world may just take a page from Africa’s playbook as it pursue universal health coverage.
Born in Springs on Johannesburg’s East Rand, Matshidiso Moeti grew up watching her doctor parents tend wounds and set bones in nearby KwaThema. The little girl destined for big things learned early that injustice and inequity were their own sorts of plagues. “My parents were doctors in the township and ran a practice…so one was aware of the struggles of families in the community,” she said. “Even by the time I was 7 or 8 years
old, I remember reading The Post newspaper and being very much aware of the political system in place, aware of what was essentially an unjust society… this influenced me a lot.” When Moeti’s parents moved to Botswana, her father took to the bush conducting small pox eradication campaigns. Her mother took a post at the Botswana Ministry of Health, which led her to what is now Kazakhstan for a work meeting in 1978. When Moeti’s mother returned home, she had been a part of history. Her meeting had adopted the Alma-Ata Declaration, which made the case for universal health coverage. It would also shape her daughter’s destiny.
Universal health coverage is one of the 169 targets and 17 goals comprising the SDGs adopted by the United Nations on Friday 25 September. They take over from the eight Millennium Development Goals adopted 15 years ago. The product of hard 
negotiations and almost 100 international consultations, the SDGs are sufficiently vague to read like a Utopian laundry list. The real meat likely to guide governments’ and donors’ money is hidden in the SDG’s targets, which include the roll out of universal health coverage (UHC).
But what the world committed to in New York this weekend, Africa has been slowly mulling over for the last decade as more countries including South Africa turn to UHC as a way of improving health outcomes and stamping out deadly inequalities. From Nigeria to Rwanda, African countries are carving out new ways of dolling out – and paying for – healthcare. (more…)
