The grim public health situation wrought in Gauteng by the third wave of Covid-19 is an indictment of the government's ham-handed handling of the crisis since the disease broke out in SA in the first quarter of last year.
So far, Gauteng has borne the brunt of the third wave, accounting for more than half the total infections in the country in this period. According to scientists, it is a matter of time before the rest of the country feels the full impact of the resurgence, which is driven by the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the government justifiably gained praise for its swift intervention, in the main using lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus.
Over time, however, lockdowns have proven to be a mechanism with diminishing returns, given their devastating effect on businesses and the financial hardship this inflicts on citizens. It is now common cause that the most effective means of combating the virus is to vaccinate most of the citizenry. Globally, countries that have followed that route have managed to roll back the pandemic, to the point of gradually returning their economies and societies to normality.
It is high time the government adopted a more open-minded approach to rolling out the vaccine
Not so SA, which was among the laggards in concluding procurement deals with vaccine manufacturers and has managed to vaccinate just a fraction of the population. That failure has come at enormous cost in terms of economic impact and lives lost. Our prospects of returning to normalcy have been set back by many months.
It is true that external factors have played a role, but the government has much to answer for in terms of how it prepared, or failed to prepare, for the third wave. The widening gap between supply and demand suggests not a shortage of vaccines, but inefficiency in the rollout programme itself.
Despite early warnings by experts to expedite the vaccination programme ahead of the third wave, the rollout continued to be characterised by breathtaking tardiness.
Tight control of the rollout in the name of ensuring equal access for all was understandable, but the approach is clearly not achieving the aim of vaccinating as many people as possible in the shortest space of time.
It is high time the government adopted a more open-minded approach to rolling out the vaccine. It should increase the number of vaccination sites and bring on board private-sector players with logistical infrastructure and relevant capabilities, beyond medical schemes and other health-care "insiders".
The objective should be to ensure easy access by taking the programme to all South Africans, irrespective of their means and location.
The scandal involving health minister Zweli Mkhize, now on special leave, may have cast a cloud over the government's Covid communications programme. But given the continuing vaccine hesitancy in some of the target populations, fuelled by disinformation, it is critical for the government to continue to seek innovative ways of getting the correct messaging to the public.
It should be obvious that without the co-operation of citizens, enforcement alone will not bring us to a speedy reversal of the pandemic.
A further consideration is that, while using lockdowns to check the spread of the disease, the government must take steps to mitigate the economic impact on citizens and businesses. Largely because of the government's failure to act expeditiously to provide vaccines, the pandemic will be with us for a while. Therefore, the authorities should consider reinstating some of the support measures withdrawn at the end of the previous wave of infections.
Law-abiding citizens, deprived of the means to earn an income, should not be put on a collision course with the law simply because they are trying to keep the wolf from the door.
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