Roland Schoeman ‘schooled’ for telling health professor to ‘do some research’

29 November 2021 - 13:00
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Swimming star Roland Schoeman told a UKZN deputy vice chancellor of research and innovation to do his 'research' about the Covid-19 pandemic.
Swimming star Roland Schoeman told a UKZN deputy vice chancellor of research and innovation to do his 'research' about the Covid-19 pandemic.
Image: Tertius Pickard/Gallo Images

Swimming star Roland Schoeman landed in hot water on Sunday after he told the former head of the School of Nursing and Public Health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Mosa Moshabela, to do his “research” on the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Schoeman responded to Moshabela’s tweet on ways in which SA can respond to the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron. 

One Twitter user suggested South Africans should try to live with the virus because there will be many variants in future. Moshabela agreed and said this needed to be done with vaccination and other interventions. 

Schoeman chimed in and questioned the effectiveness of vaccination, telling the deputy vice-chancellor of research and innovation at UKZN to “do some research”.

And how well are extremely high vaccination countries doing relative to lower? Look at states like Florida, wide open sporting events, music events. [The] industry is thriving and not even 70% vaccinated. Do some research,” he tweeted. 

Moshabela responded by asking what Schoeman suggested as an alternative.

“I understand Roland Schoeman, you're scared and afraid, a lot is at stake for you and yours. Now, given the outcome of your research, what is your proposed solution? That we be like Florida?”

The exchange drew strong reaction from users who told Schoeman who Moshabela was.

Moshabela later tweeted that the swimmer had reached out to him and "apologised". 

Experts are researching the new variant of concern but have disclosed it has more mutations than previous variants and is detectable by current Covid-19 tests.

Omicron is also responsible for the spike in infections in Gauteng and is spreading to other provinces.

They recommended vaccination and adherence to the non-pharmaceutical measures as protective measures against the virus. 


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