South African National Defence Force (SANDF) military health practitioners are seen after their arrival at Air Force Station Port Elizabeth, a South African Air Force facility situated on the north-eastern side of the Port Elizabeth Airport, on July 5, 2020. Dozens of military health practitioners were on July 5, 2020 deployed to help combat the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in the Eastren Cape Province of South Africa. (Photo by Michael Sheehan / AFP)
The military top brass seemingly heads the list of people in line to be vaccinated in the first phase of the Covid-19
vaccination roll-out, according to the department of defence.
Only health workers, the frontline workers at high risk and pillars of the strained health system, were supposed to receive the vaccine during phase one of the rollout next week.
But, according to a bulletin dated 9 February, “all health sector workers and key personnel” in the defence department will be vaccinated in the first phase and appear last on the list of prioritised workers under “senior management level”.
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First up are health workers in contact with Covid-19 confirmed patients, then those in contact with unconfirmed Covid-19 patients and then those not in contact with patients.
Brigadier-General Mafi Mgobozi, SA National Defence Force (SANDF) director for corporate communications, did not respond to a request for details of these “key personnel” and why they had been prioritised.
Independent security and defence analyst Helmoed-Römer Heitman said it made sense to have key command and control personnel protected, as well as administrative staff involved in ensuring pay, rations and fuel.
He said this would include rank groups from generals in key posts to some corporates in key posts.
“I do not believe every senior officer is necessarily key in this situation,” Heitman said.
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“The same would apply in the other departments, with the first focus on which of them must be able to function throughout – police, health, fire departments, social security staff, people in transport and so on.
“Not arts and culture, for instance, and in most of the departments there should be a very tight definition of who is key and who, by virtue of their job, is vulnerable.”
Phase two in the SANDF’s vaccination programme has been distributed as essential workers (deployed members, regular force members and reserve force on call-up); persons in congregate settings (military courses); persons older than 18 years with comorbidity (regular force medical continuation fund members, military veterans and dependants) and persons older than 60.
– siphom@citizen.co.za
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