With the Covid-19 vaccine, which arrived in SA on Monday, expected to be rolled out before the end of the month in the Eastern Cape, the provincial government says it will not rope in any businesses to distribute it.
Health department acting superintendent-general Dr Sibongile Zungu said they had enough capacity to distribute the vaccine to health-care workers as part of phase one.
However, Bhisho’s biggest headache was safely distributing it as security would have to be beefed up.
The Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine from India landed at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Monday, with President Cyril Ramaphosa, his deputy David Mabuza and health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize leading the delegation that witnessed the arrival of the first batch.
Ramaphosa and Mabuza double-checked the receipt on the wrapped consignment shortly after it was offloaded from the Emirates cargo plane.
While some have joked that corruption is so rife in the Eastern Cape that people could be given vinegar shots instead of the life-saving jabs, Zungu said the distribution would be done by the health department.
Because the province had enough capacity to handle the distribution of the vaccine, Zungu said, it would not go to tender to call for bids from companies for phase one.
She said once it arrived in the province, the vaccine would be stored at eight secret locations.
“When we distribute it, we will distribute just the amount that we are going to use.
“At this point, our plan is not to involve businesses with the distribution.”
Zungu said they had already put systems in place to give the jabs to health workers as part of phase one.
The vaccine would go under quarantine and then undergo quality controls before it was distributed to provinces, Zungu said.
“We have eight sites where it will be stored and from there it has to be moved to other areas.
“That movement is something that we, as a department, can do, but we will need security.
“It will then depend on security forces that will assist us to securely move the vaccine around — that is our main challenge at this point,” she said.
Phase two will see the vaccination of front-line workers like the police, teachers, security guards, retail workers and people over 60 years of age, people aged 18 and older with comorbidities, inmates and people in shelters.
The last phase will see everyone over 18 who wants it getting the shot.
Bhisho has said previously it hopes to vaccinate 3.7-million people over six to nine months.
After the delivery of the vaccines, Ramaphosa said: “Today marks a major milestone in our fight against the coronavirus pandemic as we receive our first consignment of the vaccine.
“This batch will benefit our health-care workers who have been at the forefront of keeping us all safe.”
Earlier in the day, Ramaphosa said: “We are now entering a new phase in our fight against the pandemic ...
“This will mark the beginning of a mass vaccination campaign that will be the most ambitious and extensive in our 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 rolling out of the vaccine comes just 10 months after SA recorded its first coronavirus case in March 2020 and amid allegations of corruption related to some business owners inflating prices while also delivering substandard personal protective equipment (PPE).
The Black Business Federation (BBF) wrote to Mabuza and Mkhize, asking that small businesses be used in the distribution of the vaccine.
On Monday, BBF spokesperson Sifiso Shezi said small businesses were hardest hit by Covid-19, with many forced to close shop.
“If you empower SMMEs, you are able to [kill] two birds with one stone because, in the true sense, SMMEs are able to grow and employ people, whereas big businesses are only interested in making a profit and most of them are downsizing and introducing technology.
“If you empower SMMEs, you are able to grow the economy,” he said.
Asked whether some of the SMMEs would have the capacity to deliver the vaccine, Shezi said if given a chance, SMMEs would prove themselves.
He said they wanted a piece of the vaccine pie instead of, as had happened previously, SMMEs being sidelined when the government wanted personal protective equipment (PPE) in 2020.
“The people who benefited from that PPE bonanza were aligned to politicians with influence or officials from departments.
“It shouldn’t be ministers, their wives or friends [who get vaccine distribution tenders].”
Shezi said the tendering process was riddled with corruption, which disadvantaged SMMEs.
“Most of these things are predetermined, they are rigged.
“Even now, there are people who have gone and registered new companies because they know there’s going to be a vaccine rollout which is going to leave lots of SMMEs [out in the cold] who should be given a chance,” he said.
In the letter, which The Herald has seen, BBF secretary-general Robert Ndlela wrote to Mabuza and Mkhize he said: “It is our strongly held view that Covid-19-related procurement can serve as the best shock absorber to the struggling SMMEs under the current economic climate.”
On Monday, Shezi they had not received any response.
The spokespersons in Mabuza’s office, Matshepo Seedat and Sam Bopape, and Mkhize’s spokesperson, Lwazi Manzi, failed to respond to questions sent to them on Monday morning. — Additional reporting by TimesLIVE and Reuters
HeraldLIVE