The government expects to reach a daily coronavirus vaccination target of 250,000 doses a day by the end of the week, as inoculation resumes in areas affected by last week’s unrest and the pace picks up in the rest of SA. Accelerating the vaccination programme has assumed new urgency as SA grapples a third surge in infections and is vital if the government is to achieve its goal of inoculating more than 40-million adults, or two thirds of the population, by March.
Daily Covid-19 vaccinations peaked at 191,000 a day on July 9 but dropped as low as 137,421 on Tuesday as looting and violence derailed the programme in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng. Vaccine administration came to a virtual standstill in KwaZulu-Natal, dashing hope that SA would reach the 250,000-a-day target last week.
“We lost opportunities due to the violence — probably 300,000 doses had to be deferred,” said Nicholas Crisp, the health department’s deputy director-general for National Health Insurance.
Public sector health facilities were left largely unscathed by last week’s looting and violence, but more than 200 private sector GP practices and dozens of pharmacies were targeted in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, prompting several private-sector operators including Discovery and Momentum to temporarily close their vaccination sites nationwide as a precaution.
KwaZulu-Natal had adequate vaccine stock in its pipeline and deliveries to the province were expected to resume later this week, said Crisp.
Healthcare businesses continued to take stock of the damage to their assets on Monday, with those that were able to do so resuming trade as key supply chains were re-established.
At least 54 independent pharmacies and dozens more operated by corporate chains were affected by the violence, with dispensaries stripped of medicines and extensive damage wrought on infrastructure.
Independent Community Pharmacy Association (ICPA) spokesperson Sham Moodley said medicine distribution resumed in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday afternoon, enabling pharmacies that were able to operate to restock their shelves. “Last week, it was an absolute crisis, and patients could not get access to medication. There was no stock distribution, so if we ran out we could not get more. But from today we expect it to be under control,” he said
An emergency fund had been established to help affected independent pharmacies resume trading, he said.
Warehouses operated by Pharmed, City Med, Alpha Pharm, Transphar and Dis-Chem had reopened, but Clicks-owned UPD remained closed on Monday.
Trading at 45 of Clicks’ 52 damaged and looted stores remained suspended, 29 of them pharmacies, and 13 of the 27 vaccination sites it closed last week were still shuttered on Monday afternoon.
“Whether any stores will be closed permanently will depend on landlords, and the extent of the damage to their malls and whether they will be able to continue trading,” said Clicks. Its Durban distribution centre was stripped by looters last Tuesday, disrupting the supply of both medicines and retail items to its stores. Stock was being brought in from Johannesburg to service the hospital groups in the province, it said
Discovery Health COO Ronald Whelan said the perpetrators of last week’s violence had targeted key pharmacies serving a large population. Ten percent of the pharmacies used by its client medical schemes in KwaZulu-Natal had been targeted, representing almost a quarter (23%) of the pharmacy claims it processed in the province, he said. “The good news is supply chains are beginning to move again, thanks to collaboration between corporate and independents to get medicines back on shelves and into dispensaries. We are feeling reasonably confident that people will have access to their medicines,” he said.
Generic pharmaceutical manufacturer Cipla, one of the main suppliers of HIV medicines to the state, said contrary to media reports, its Durban plant had not burnt down. A site assessment was under way to gauge the extent of the damage inflicted by rioters, but it did not anticipate supply disruption as it could source products from other sites. The company remained committed to operating the Durban facility, and intended to resume production as soon as possible, it said.
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