‘We might not meet vaccine demand’
BY HARRIET CHIKANDIWA/LORRAINE MUROMO
PARLIAMENTARY Portfolio Committee on Health chairperson Ruth Labode yesterday expressed concern over government’s capacity to meet demand for COVID-19 vaccines, given that the country currently only has 200 000 doses donated by China.
Labode said this during a virtual discussion organised by the Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust to debate the country’s COVID-19 rollout plan currently underway, targeting frontline workers.
Zimbabwe last week took delivery of 200 000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China, with donations from Russia still to be delivered.
“We are not going to have only one vaccine in Zimbabwe, but we are going to have more, we are expecting the Covax vaccine from the African Union (AU), but my concern is not on the effectiveness of the vaccines, but the ability to carry out the vaccination plan if we got only 200 000 doses from China,” Labode said.
PHOTO: Jaco Marais/Gallo Images, Netwerk24
Opposition MPs are concerned about corruption at GEMS after alleged
tender rigging, fraud, corruption, and maladministration worth R300 million
were revealed.
An ANC MP, however, was very excited about how GEMS deals
with corruption.
GEMS said it had systems in place to adequately deal with corruption.
Opposition MPs expressed their concern about corruption at the
Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) after News24 exclusively revealed
allegations of tender rigging, fraud, corruption and maladministration valued
at more than R300 million.
On Tuesday, a joint meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service
and Administration and Portfolio Committee on Health was briefed by GEMS and
Outlining the vaccine rollout plan, provincial department head Dr Savera Mohangi said the province had decided on the two vaccination sites due to limited stock. The two hospitals were chosen because of their high numbers of healthcare workers who had been exposed to Covid-19. Mzansi Ethical Research Centre has been nominated to oversee the vaccination process in Mpumalanga, said committee spokesperson Yoliswa Landu.
The health department also said the vaccination programme would have to be implemented in the two hospitals over a maximum of two weeks. A team of 42 vaccinators will rotate between the two facilities, who in turn will be overseen by researchers from Mzansi Ethical Research Centre (MERC). The research team will help to maintain the cold chain and drawing up doses of the vaccine, and the vaccinators will then administer the vaccines, said Landu.
Health committee calls on SAHPRA to clear doubts on efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines
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The Portfolio Committee on Health has told the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) that the people are concerned and sceptical about the safety of the Covid-19 vaccines that have arrived. Furthermore, the committee said the fog of doubt around the Covid-19 vaccines must be cleared.
PHOTO: Gallo images/OJ Kolot
Upgrading Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital will go a long way to addressing problems at the healthcare facility, the Portfolio Committee on Health has said.
The committee visited the hospital on Saturday, following a damning report by the Health Ombudsman into the death of Shonisani Lethole.
The report found the hospital had been negligent and was not ready to handle Covid-19 cases.
Parliament s Portfolio Committee on Health has called for the upgrading of the Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital in Gauteng.
The committee made an oversight visit to the hospital on Saturday after a report released by Health Ombudsman Professor Malegapuru Makgoba on the care and death of Shonisani Lethole. Lethole died at the hospital in June 2020.