The Economic Freedom Fighters note the announcement by the Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize on the 16th of May 2021 that claims that the Phase 2 of the Vaccination Rollout program for coronavirus will commence on the 17 of May 2021.
However, we are seriously doubtful of the impact this so-called phase two of the vaccination program will have on the ongoing fight against coronavirus. This concern stems from the spectacular failure of the government's vaccination attempts up to date. Phase 1 of the vaccination rollout program which was initially meant to see 1.2 million healthcare workers vaccinated.
It is now common cause that less than 600,000 healthcare workers have been vaccinated by the 17th of May 2021. This is one of many deadly mishaps in the manner the department has handled the COVID pandemic. These mistakes are deadly because they lead to the deaths of many.
In addition, we are still concerned about the manner many elderly people are expected to register for vaccination. In numerous communities across the country, particularly in rural, township and informal settlement areas, there is still a need to engage and communicate with the elderly about the need to register for vaccination, and the steps needed to have them registered.
The department seems to be ignorant of the exclusionary nature of digitised registration for the elderly and the general population, and that this may result in the poor being excluded from the vaccination process. The reality of the matter is that millions of poor people will not have the means to register online for the vaccination programme. Despite this, there has been no targeted communication campaign by the Department to register elderly people for vaccination.
Since the harrowing announcement of the first covid-19 recorded case in South Africa over a year ago, Minister Zweli Mkhize has failed to present to the country vital details pertaining to the covid-19 global pandemic response efforts and vaccination program. He has further failed to deliver in relation to the targets net for provinces in preparing healthcare facilities, responding to the global pandemic and the procurement processes of acquiring, delivering, storing and administering vaccines.
We call on the Minister of Health to, with immediate effect, ensure that the personnel of community healthcare workers are absorbed and dispatched to all townships, rural and informal settlement areas for a door-to-door program to ensure that each house consisting of a pensioner is registered for the vaccine urgently.
There have already been cases reported in vaccination sites citing that there are pensioners arriving with inadequate information on the registration process, thus delaying inoculation and overburdening healthcare workers once again with a duty that should have been fulfilled and implemented by the Department.
Failure to ensure that all information relating to registration and vaccination procedures is communicated properly to the general population will lead to vaccine hesitancy amongst the people.
We further call on Zweli Mkhize to fast track the acquiring of more vaccines, in order to vaccinate the 67% of the population needed to attain immunity to the virus. We reiterate that the government must procure other vaccines that have been proven to be safe and effective against the variants of the virus found in this country.
We cannot accept any further loss of life as a result of the government's incompetence.
Issued by Vuyani Pambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 18 May 2021