The Gauteng Health MEC, Nomathemba Mokgethi has detailed how covid-19 vaccine vials got lost in the province. Mokgethi disclosed that 191 Pfizer vials and 498 J&J of covid-19 vaccine has been wasted amounting to 3636 Covid-19 vaccine doses in total as there are six doses in a Pfizer Vial and five in J&J vial.
Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng member of the provincial legislature and spokesperson for health Jack Bloom said in a statement on Tuesday that Mokgethi had released the figures in response to his questions for oral reply in the Gauteng Legislature.
“According to Mokgethi, the wasted doses occurred because vials are sometimes opened and people are not available to use all the doses, and power failures led to some vials being spoiled. Some vaccines also expired,” Bloom said.
“While it is disappointing that vaccines are wasted for various reasons, the larger problem is Gauteng’s flagging vaccine program which lags other provinces,” he said.
Only 29% of adults in Gauteng are fully vaccinated compared to 34% for South Africa as a whole and 40% or more in the Western Cape, Free State and Limpopo.
“Mokgethi blames vaccine hesitancy on social media, the mobility of people in the province, and a shortage of the one-dose J&J vaccine where preference is given to rural provinces,” Bloom said.
The Gauteng Health Department is now concentrating on outreach efforts, pop-up sites at work-places and gathering places, and more weekend vaccination sites.
“I agree with the approach to take vaccines to the people, but far more needs to be done to push up vaccinations before an anticipated fourth wave,” Bloom said.
Only 3.3 million people are fully vaccinated in Gauteng, against the target of 10 million.
Mokgethi said many teenagers who are now eligible for the vaccine are deferring their jabs until after their annual school exams.
“The priority, however, should be the 1.3 million over-50s in Gauteng who are still not vaccinated. Every effort should be made to reach them as they are the most likely to end up in the hospital or die because of Covid-19 infection,” Bloom said.