Union calls for access to Covid-19 vaccine for rural South Africans

Farm workers are the “forgotten people” SA cannot afford to leave out of the planned Covid-19 vaccine rollout, say unions.

International cargo companies such as Deutsche Lufthansa AG are racing against time preparing for the mammoth task of distributing billions of vaccine doses to countries worldwide. The company began preparing in April in anticipation of vaccines being developed by Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna.

Now, with a depleted fleet operating at 25% capacity, a plan is being devised to get as many doses flown out of Frankfurt as soon as possible.

But developing nations the world over face even greater logistical nightmares. Before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, SA’s centralised healthcare system negatively affected rural dwellers by forcing them to travel further for access to primary healthcare services.

Coupled with the aftermath of a decade-long HIV/Aids crisis which left much of the rural population poorer for its loss of breadwinners, food insecurity and water scarcity, healthcare disparities between urban and rural areas need to be addressed.

Organisations such as the National African Farmers Union (Nafu) have called for millions of rural South Africans to have access to a vaccine for one of the deadliest viruses of the century. Mobile clinics would become the most likely sites for the mass distribution of the anticipated vaccine rollout, said Nafu president Motsepe Matlala.

“We must not forget people who live on farms are very far from towns and the cost of going to the clinics in urban areas is very high, taking into account they don’t necessarily earn decent salaries. If the private sector and government can take these factors into account, the rural communities will be able to access this vaccine,” said Matlala.

The Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa said it was difficult for farming communities to feel certain about the future, given how much of their issues already hung in the balance prior to the pandemic.

“Because of the lockdown we lost a big part of our economy. Many people don’t have jobs anymore,” it said.

“The government should give hygiene guidelines for everyone to make their own decision about how they will implement them but it must open up the economy.

“We are creating other problems that could bring bigger problems to the country and the population at the end. A vaccine that is tested and guaranteed to be safe could help at the end.”

– simnikiweh@citizen.co.za

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