Johannesburg – Monday, May 17 2021, was a red letter day in South Africa.
That’s the day on which the official Covid-19 vaccinations for the general public is to start.
So far, it has been only our heroic health workers who were jabbed under the Sisonke project. Even with them, of the 1.3-million health workers in the country, we have so far vaccinated fewer than 500 000.
Against the background noise of the supposedly approaching third wave of the pandemic in the country, we hope to see well-organised processes at the various vaccination points.
These are supposed to include private doctors’ surgeries, pharmacies, state-designated sites and even premises of big companies.
We should see ourselves put our very best foot forward so that we may roll out an efficient and effective vaccination campaign.
With the over-60s as the first group in this phase two process, we hope to see the elderly treated with dignity, respect and consideration.
No shambles that would expose them to long and chaotic queues that are highly problematic for senior citizens. So far, we have seen over 1.5-million of our citizens getting infected with the virus and about 55 000 succumbing to complications related to it.
So, the vaccinations are not something nice to have.
They are a matter of life and death. We have learnt what happens to the citizens when a country does not take the virus seriously.
It has been mainly the countries with right-wing leaders with loony ideas that have provided the sharpest lessons.
Americans were dying in large numbers as Donald Trump held political rallies, spurned masks and called Covid-19 a little flu that would go away on its own.
This economic and military giant had to turn refrigerated trucks into morgues as the usual mortuaries overflowed.
His little puppy, President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil followed suit, and Brazilians suffered the consequences. We saw eerie stretches of open land with rows and rows of graves and PPE-covered men burying one body after the other.
The above two were nothing compared to the harrowing images from India. Its prime minister, Narendra Modi, had allowed huge religious festivals and political rallies to take place all over the country.
The result was this barrage of pictures of people lying all over hospital floors, many unable to get oxygen and thousand dying every day. The pictures of cremations in open spaces and bodies floating in the Ganges River, beamed on TV channels all over the world, are heart-rending and difficult to watch. While pledging our solidarity and sorrow with the citizens of India, Brazil and the US, we should learn from their tragic experiences and vow never to repeat them.
That’s why the Covid-19 vaccination campaign starting tomorrow is so important. Vaccinations will not prevent infections, but they do protect us from dying from complications associated with Covid- 19 global pandemic.
If we put enough jabs into the arms of our citizens, we might soon begin to ease our lives into normality. Most importantly, we could return schooling to effective and proper learning. By all accounts, the present rotational school attendance by pupils is ineffective and injurious to the current and future wellbeing of our young. Apart from missing out on knowledge absorption, a lot of them fall victim to mischief that occurs on account of their being loose, away from the guidance of school authorities and parents who are at work.
With enough jabs, we could start worshipping freely, play sport, attend funerals and earn a living.
• Mangena is the former minister of science and technology
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