DALLAS, Texas — Consistent cases of COVID-19 have hit the country of South Africa hard since the pandemic’s beginning. Between January 2020 and early August 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed more than 2 million cases and 62,171 deaths. New cases have occurred regularly with a daily average of 36,141 new cases flaring up between June 28, 2021 and July 4, 2021. In spite of the 3 million vaccinations that South Africans have received, there remain many issues regarding the distribution and spread of available and new COVID-19 vaccines in South Africa.
The Situation Regarding COVID-19 Vaccines in South Africa
Many have pointed the blame at issues with previous attempts to address the pandemic. Only 5% have received vaccination out of the 60 million in the country and one-third of those older than 60 years received accommodation. The lack of urgency in vaccinating those at higher risks has contributed to a large number of deaths. The use of an electronic portal to register for vaccines also did not help since it served to reinforce issues of technological accessibility and social inequality.
Additionally, while vaccine distribution has been an issue globally, South Africa did not plan with vaccine companies beforehand. The fact that South Africa only started discussions regarding a plan for vaccinations in 2021 has put it behind a lot of other countries that started ahead of time. While these issues have been substantial and hindered the vaccination attempts, there are efforts underway within the country and with outside organizations to assist with this problem. The goal in South Africa is to address the current problems and create solutions to prevent them from continuing.
The Sinovac Vaccine
To assist in alleviating the issue, the government of South Africa has focused on looking for new suitors to provide vaccines. One that South Africa has approved recently is the Sinovac Vaccine which is also the name of the company in China that produced it. The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved it for emergency use due to many countries lacking accessibility to vaccines and the fact that it had 90% effectiveness in trials. Sinovac is also an inactivated vaccine which means people can easily store it and it is well suited for locations with fewer resources. The approval for this vaccine gives South Africa new options in combating the continuing spread of the disease alongside current deals with other companies. The drive to approve this vaccine has been the result of the South African government wanting to ensure that its prior mistakes would be accountable.
Contaminated Vaccines
The South African government has also been hands-on with viewing issues with the production and the distribution of vaccines from other countries. For certain occurrences, the Ministry of Health has focused on investigating vaccine production. One such investigation has viewed the Johnson & Johnson vaccine due to fears of contamination within a U.S. plant. Manufacturing at a Baltimore plant halted after findings determined that ingredients from another vaccine, AstraZeneca, had contaminated a batch that Johnson & Johnson made. Concerns over the production have led South Africa to dispose of 2 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine sent from the United States.
With outside issues hindering the present flow of vaccines, the South African government has taken it upon itself to find the issues and implement new ways of distribution such as the aforementioned Sinovac vaccine. Considering that South Africa has managed to address and fix a potential disaster with the contaminated vaccines as well as bringing its grievances to the world stage, it is on the right track.
Challenges with Vaccine Accessibility
South Africa has also focused on bringing awareness to the issue of vaccine disparities between lower and higher-income people. Challenges with pharmaceutical companies have occurred with many of them attempting to block a vaccine patent waiver that the World Trade Organization proposed. Developing countries pushed for the proposal and argued for bypassing intellectual property rights to allow for higher local production and to allow more people to receive vaccinations. The concern is that countries with less dire situations have more vaccines in bulk compared to how many they need. The sale of AstraZeneca vaccines to South Africa, in particular, embodies the issue since the poorer country had to pay double the price than European countries.
Second waves of COVID-19 have hit low-income countries hard while other countries have been blocking patent waivers to allow control of manufacturing to large companies with disapproval. As a result, the fact the government of South Africa has been focusing on addressing this problem shows a hands-on approach to ensure that the distribution and availability of vaccines are fair.
The COVAX Initiative
Alongside the internal assistance, global groups have also provided COVID-19 vaccines in South Africa through direct means. Considering the rise of new variants and the failure of the COVAX initiative to distribute to poor counties, companies and agencies have assisted in solving the problem. Recently, the World Bank and other government agencies approved a financial package to allow for the production of more Johnson & Johnson vaccines in South Africa by local companies. The deal is worth around $713 million and will produce 250 vaccines this year with 30 million of them intended for South Africa.
The main vaccine ingredient will go to the company Aspen, based in the South African port of Durban, and they will finish the production locally. This will avoid the aforementioned issues the Johnson & Johnson vaccine saw in Baltimore by moving production. One of the larger goals of this loan is to ensure there is both a long-term investment in vaccines and ease of availability in all pharmaceutical products in the future within Africa.
WHO’s Tech Transfer Hub
WHO is also discussing implementing a tech transfer hub in South Africa. This hub will allow for African companies to manufacture the mRNA vaccines used in Moderna and Pfizer shots in a span of nine to 12 months. The result of this plan is to build a training center to manufacture vaccines using the spike protein that makes up the mRNA vaccine. The desire of those involved is to allow places like South Africa more flexibility and control over the distribution of vaccines locally.
The creation of this area and the ability to share the technology to make vaccines allows for a center of collaboration that will allow for ease of vaccination within the country. This also gives Africa in general an access point that was not previously available and eliminates the reliance on outside nations. The help that global companies are giving will ensure that South Africa’s issues with COVID-19 can decrease and that pharmaceutical development can come at greater ease.
Conclusion
South Africa’s prior mistakes in regard to dealing with COVID-19 has hit it hard. Thus, its renewed focus on interacting with other countries regarding vaccines is a necessary step. The focus on the disparity and poor production as well as finding new distributors have given South Africa the opportunity to pull out of the chaos. It helps that groups like the World Health Organization and the World Bank have collaborated with the South African government and various pharmaceutical companies to allow for easier production and distribution within the country’s borders. These measures will only help ensure that South Africa’s situation gets better.
– John Dunkerley
Photo: Flickr