Wendy Philander, MPP, the DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Health says; “We welcome the public-private joint effort involving Discovery, the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town to ramp up the vaccination drive by launching the Mass Vaccination Centre of Hope at the CTICC. This initiative creates the capacity we need to roll out vaccines to residents, and serves as a crucial step towards achieving population immunity, in order to save lives and livelihoods. The greatest challenge right now remains the slow, erratic supply of vaccines to the province from national Health.”
MPP Wendy Philander comments: “We welcome that the provincial government expects to receive an increase in vaccines for the upcoming week. However, the anticipated increase in supply would have to accommodate those who are ready to receive their second jab of the Pfizer vaccine.
Our systems are ready in the Western Cape to ramp up the drive. We consistently meet – and can often beat – our vaccination targets every week. But the slow process in the supply and the issues with the registration system continue to present challenges in our efforts to vaccinate as many people as possible at each phase.
Currently only 53% of the elderly residents in the province are registered on the system. Our call thus remains two-fold: firstly, maintain a steady increase in vaccination supply and secondly, for the registration system open ahead of time for the next phase of the roll-out. This should address the existing challenges before we reach the next phase.
We also need clarity from national government in light of the Gauteng Premier’s announcement today that their province will begin rolling out vaccines to 50-59 year old residents next week. Such announcements are a national mandate, and if provinces are to have some kind of differentiated approach to administering jabs, then we have to ask: is this a fair approach? Have all provinces been consulted on this? Yet again, this raises with more questions than answers from national.”
It is important that we maintain consistent in the vaccination drive as the country reaches the apex of the 3rd wave. In other parts of South Africa, more cases are recorded than in previous waves of Covid-19 and it is critical that we prevent this scenario in the province, to which an efficient vaccination drive plays a key role.
