Staff Writer

Radio Islam International spoke to North Gauteng Lawyer Riekie Erasmus, who is currently on a mission to halt the Covid-19 vaccine process for supposed adverse effects.

Erasmus also expressed scepticism over the country’s current lock-down process.

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has to date approved 4 vaccines for use in the country: the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, the Pfizer-BioNTech, the Oxford-AstraZeneca and the Sinovac vaccines.

SAHPRA has, as of August, reported 1450 adverse effects out of the 7 million vaccine doses provided, most of which already exist on the datasheet for the various vaccines. According to SAHPRA, 32 deaths have been reported, 28 of which were proved to be coincidental and unrelated to the vaccine, with the other 4 not having had enough evidence to prove causality.

It is significant to note that all vaccines, including those for the common flu, do have side effects, with fever. Pain and itchiness around the injection cite the most common complaints. Further, most are transitory, with a reporting mechanism setup for further investigations. This includes a national immunology health expert committee, which together with SAHPRA will investigate adverse effects, especially those previously unreported. In addition, it is also significant that most of these vaccines have thus far been provided to over a billion people, with serious adverse side effects reported in less than 0.1%.

Erasmus argued that that these were not vaccines, since their content was unknown, and reiterated that as of yet she was still busy sifting through the evidence to try to prove causality. She further argued that a class action suit was not in the immediate offing as longer-term impacts needed to be first observed, and that these suits were akin to medical negligence suits, which require the proving of serious negligence. Erasmus is seeking a halt of the vaccination drive for more investigations to occur first, a move that is unlikely.

Erasmus had received around 500 complaints at the time of the interview, but could not yet prove correlation, nor causation, and appealed for medical professionals to join the process. Further, she argued that eventually action may be taken against all promoting vaccinations, including political parties and employers, especially since ‘informed consent’ could not be totally proved.

It does need to be noted that the vaccination drive has decreased the coronavirus rate in South Africa, with the country now being able to move down to a level 1 lockdown.