Aspen CEO backs Discovery’s mandatory vaccinations decision

Stephen Saad, the CEO of South Africa’s largest pharmaceutical company, says he supports the move by medical scheme Discovery to make Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory for all staff.

Discovery CEO Adrian Gore said on Thursday that the company has made the rule to ensure the safety of employees. Gore said employees will have no choice but to be vaccinated by January next year.

When asked in an interview with eNCA on Friday morning whether Aspen will take the same stance, Saad said “I think they’re right. “If logic prevails, I think we should all be vaccinated,” without actually confirming whether the pharmaceutical company will follow Discovery’s lead with their own employees.

“I’m not sure of the legal implications, if it can be or should be mandatory, but I completely subscribe to it,” he added.

“At the very least, if you’re not going to get vaccinated, then you need to be inconvenienced. You need to get treatments every few days to show that you’re negative, and you can’t go to certain areas without masks on, etc.”

Saad said if everyone was vaccinated then Covid-19 would not be able to spread anymore and he’s “comfortable” with Discovery’s rule.

Aspen is currently producing Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine and hopes to increase production from 300 million to 450 million doses a year by February.