Mandatory vaccine may soon be a reality

There may soon come a time when government will help those South Africans dragging their heels over getting their
Covid vaccinations by making up their minds for them with a vaccination mandate.

Specialists in the field are warning the pending decision by Health Minister Joe Phaahla is “absolutely critical” in light of recent jumps in Covid infections. With many back to the daily grind after travelling over the December break, health department spokesperson Foster Mohale said numbers were rising gradually, but there was no cause for serious concern because the recovery rate was equally high.

“Our focus is to have more people vaccinate, even when the number of new infections is low, so by the time we are hit by the new wave or variant, we know that the impact of infections won’t be severe,” Mohale said.

Professor Glenda Davison, associate professor and head of the biomedical sciences department at Cape Peninsula University of Technology said the country was not going to fully beat Covid until more than 80% of the population was inoculated.

“So yes, it is probably time to think about this.

“Other countries have made it mandatory with success and others have made vaccination compulsory to attend certain events and have access to restaurants,” she said.

“One of the biggest risks is the development of more variants which are likely to arise if the virus is able to replicate uncontrollably.”

According to Davison, vaccination reduced viral load, so there was less chance of a variant developing, which could also have implications for a fifth wave. “In addition, the economy will never fully recover until we get the majority vaccinated.

“For example while we have low vaccination rates the likelihood of travel bans and the return of tourists is always at risk.”

Public health lawyer Safura Abdool Karim said the government should have made its decision months ago. “This will create some kind of uniformity and it might also expand the scope of the mandate.”

Vaccinologist Professor Shabir Madhi said mandatory vaccination of adults to partake in gatherings would assist in ensuring that SA does not experience a swell of severe disease cases when there would be a resurgence.

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“This assist in safeguarding health care services, even when vaccines not preventing infections. Also, the next wave could be due to a variant that vaccines do protect better against than it did for omicron.”

Madhi said if people were vaccinated and SA had a breakthrough infection, it would result in a quicker decline in viral load and be less infectious to others. The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) is opposed to vaccine mandates. A study published in the 5 January Obstetrics & Gynaecology medical journal found vaccines may cause a small change to menstrual cycle length, but that this change was temporary.

“While health experts believe this finding is not clinically significant, the commission would like to caution businesses against forcing employees to vaccinate and imposing harsh sanctions on them if they do not,” it said.

– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za