Vavi on vaccine rollout: Anything touched by the ANC govt collapses
South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) believes the government has begun its vaccine rollout way too late.
On Wednesday the country started its phase one of vaccine rollout, following the arrival of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Tuesday night.
The vaccine rollout was expected at the begin on the 1st of February, but the process was delayed.
The disruption of the rollout came after government discovered that AstraZeneca vaccine was ineffective on people who suffer from mild symptoms due to the Covid-19 variant first discovered in South Africa.
Saftu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi says despite the vaccination of a few healthcare workers, the government is late and has put the lives of its citizens at risk.
"And as result, we have missed the target, we are now dealing with the second variant and fear that we might go to a third wave or third variant in South Africa.
"And 1 million vaccines that come from AstraZeneca have become a waste, no one is telling us how much money was wasted there.
"Now we have 80 000 and were are told that there will another 500 000 in the next four weeks, no time frames no dates nothing. We are waiting and dying.”
Vavi says the African National Congress (ANC) government has no proper plan in place for the vaccine rollout.
"I would have been surprised if our government have done well on this one. Look at the state of our schools, hospitals and police stations?" asked Vavi.
"Anything touched by the ANC government collapses, it slowly dies."
