We were all pleasantly surprised this week, but also taken aback, when the UK announced it had approved the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. The first jabs will start this coming week, with 800,000 inoculations covering health workers, and care-home staff and residents over the age of 80.
The race for who first produces and approves a vaccine that guarantees immunity from Covid-19 has been heavily politicised. A jubilant British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised the speed at which his country's health regulators moved to approve the Pfizer vaccine and what this means going forward. And it is extraordinary that a vaccine has been developed at such breakneck speed, when these normally take between 15 to 20 years to go from the lab to pharmacies, clinics and hospitals.
The coronavirus has claimed nearly 1.5-million lives around the world, 279,000 of these in the US, where President Donald Trump's mishandling of the pandemic is said to have contributed to his loss in the elections. SA has recorded 806,000 cases, with almost 22,000 deaths. Except for a few loud anti-vaxers, it is generally accepted that the myriad vaccines being developed around the world are what will bring back normalcy after almost a year of having to cope with the novel coronavirus.
So how should SA approach the tricky question of vaccination?
The global North adopted vaccine nationalisation early on - pre-ordering billions of doses when the vaccines were still in trial stage - but it became quickly apparent that a solution had to be found so that the rest of the world also gets just access to and equal distribution of vaccines.
This gave birth to Covax, a global collaboration that engaged almost two-thirds of the world to enable access to a large and diverse portfolio of vaccines, especially for those countries that generally are not able to afford universal vaccination programmes. It brings together governments, global health organisations, drug manufacturers, scientists, the private sector and civil society working towards this noble goal.
SA has committed R500m towards Covax, and on Friday finance minister Tito Mboweni rejected a news report that we had missed our first payment to this facility. SA has signed for a purchase that will cover 10% of the population.
But local health experts are already warning the country to tread carefully on the vaccine issue, to avoid making a costly mistake. They say the government must make sure that we spend on a vaccine that is best suited to our conditions, as we cannot afford to rectify the mistake of investing in an unsuitable vaccine.
In a report elsewhere in this newspaper, South African Medical Association chair Dr Angelique Coetzee says if SA hangs on for several more weeks, far more vaccines will be available "and hopefully we will get a vaccine that is more suitable for our country's environment and far cheaper".
The health department assured the country that the government is on track to sign the Covax agreement, saying: "In order to secure enough doses to vaccinate 10% of our population, we will be required to make a down payment of R327,118,080 . the Solidarity Fund has agreed to make this initial contribution."
Professor Helen Rees, who chairs SA's health products regulatory authority and the Vaccine Alliance's vaccines and immunisation programme and policy committee, said the Pfizer vaccine looks good in terms of efficacy, but it requires ultra-cold storage at minus 70°C, which is challenging for Africa and SA logistically.
Covid has done great damage to our lives and our economy, and we cannot wait to return to normal. But the government must heed advice when it comes to the choice of vaccine. We should not rush into purchasing the first vaccine to hit the market, but wait for the right one at the right price.
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