Covid vaccines: the state’s skewed priorities
A vaccinologist says the first shot of Pfizer’s vaccine provides sufficient protection to warrant a decision to pause second doses
The government should stop administering second doses of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine and instead channel them to high-risk groups, Wits University vaccinologist Prof Shabir Madhi argues.Experts have urged the government to speed up the rollout of vaccines, not only to help save lives but also to help save livelihoods in an economy that has been ravaged by the pandemic.SA is in the grip of a devastating third wave of Covid. It has resulted in a record 26,485 new cases being reported on July 3, with total deaths climbing to 61,507.With administered vaccines totalling just more than 3-million out of a population of 59.62-million — a little over 5% — the surge in infections is threatening to undermine a tentative economic recovery at a time when the government has imposed another set of restrictions in an attempt to curb the pandemic.SA is on level 4 lockdown: alcohol sales are banned and gyms, casinos, restaurants, theatres and cinemas are closed.By contrast, much of the rest of the world ...
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