Faizel Patel – 13/01/2021
The Progressive Health Forum says there is evidence that government may have delayed in procuring the COVID-19 vaccine as the country battles through the second wave of the pandemic.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday announced that 20-million vaccines were secured for the country, but gave no further details.
Ramaphosa called on all South African to support the government’s plan to roll out the coronavirus vaccine.
Speaking to Radio Islam on Wednesday, Dr Aslam Dasoo from the Progressive Health Forum says government may have procrastinated in procuring the Coronavirus vaccine.
“I think all the evidence points to that. We alerted them to this some time ago and nothing seems to have happened until we kind of made a more forceful call for this. We think a number of people must have done the same thing because we suddenly heard that they will be beginning bilateral negotiations with manufacturers to obtain the vaccine at this late hour.”
Dr Dasoo also commented about the so-called COVID-19 miracle drug Ivermectin.
Authorities are clamping down on the dispensing of the drug, which is used to treat and kill parasites in animals.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) on Sunday said the medication was not approved for human use in the country and any attempts to import the drug were unlawful.
Dr Dasoo says Ivermectin is being explored more about its efficacy in treating COVID-19.
“It’s use in the moment is illegal for the purposes of COVID and I think practitioners should be aware that. It is not formulated for human use in this country, it’s compounded really for veterinary reasons. There have been some anecdotal reports, some people say there have been sufficient studies. Our view is that those studies are insufficient, the government’s view is the same and so is the Health Products Regulatory Authority.”
The first group to get the COVID-19 vaccine would be frontline health workers.
The remaining adult population of approximately 22.5 million people will then be vaccinated in the third phase.
Listen to the interview with Dr. Aslam Dasoo.
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