22 December 2020 - Scientists Collective
What are the urgent steps that South Africans need to take to prepare for a timeous life-saving roll out of vaccines?
Some of the members of the Scientists Collective are acknowledged as world leaders in the vaccine field, and are in a position to consider and provide answers to the difficult questions about meeting one of the greatest challenges South Africa has ever faced, the mass vaccination of the population.
Over the next few months, we expect to have further information on the safety and effectiveness of a range of other Covid-19 vaccines.
We can’t do full justice to all the intricacies of vaccines and how they work, but in this Advisory we will link you to trustworthy and relevant information (see our article on misinformation here), together with safe links to trusted sites.
Some of the members of the Scientists Collective are acknowledged as world leaders in the vaccine field, and are in a position to consider and provide answers to the difficult questions about meeting one of the greatest challenges South Africa has faced, the mass vaccination of the population.
Over the next few months, we expect to have further information on the safety and effectiveness of a range of other Covid-19 vaccines.
We can’t do full justice to all the intricacies of vaccines and how they work, but in this advisory we will link you to trustworthy and relevant information (see our article on misinformation here), together with safe links to trusted sites.
A week ago, Bloomberg reported that SA was only likely to get a Covid-19 vaccine rolled out in earnest by mid-2021 and even then only for a select few. That created an outcry from the medical fraternity. In this episode of Inside Covid-19, we speak to Professor Francois Venter, a professor of medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand, who has been pushing the government to share detailed plans for who will get vaccines. A former advisor on the government advisory panel, Professor Venter warns that the vaccine may not be administered en masse next year at all. We hear from one of the founders of the Great Barrington Declaration how we should manage Covid-19 until vaccines arrive. Dr Jay Battacharya spoke to BizNews in November. He is opposed to strict lockdown but is in favour of focused protection. He says lockdown is the single-biggest mistake in health policy in his life time but we should take protective measures – and this can include wearing masks, particularly if we are