SA will lose war against Covid-19 if people entertain 'baseless' vaccine conspiracies, says Malema

EFF leader Julius Malema on Thursday warned South Africans against believing baseless theories about the Covid-19 vaccines.

This as SA has secured 20 million doses of the vaccine which will be delivered during the first half of the year.

Malema was addressing a media briefing when he lashed out at vaccine fear-mongers and conspiracy theorists for threatening SA’s progress in its fight against the pandemic. For this, he partly blamed SA’s decision to procure the vaccine rather than manufacture its own.

“We are not talking about producing our own vaccine. As a result, we have given room to these conspiracy theories. Perhaps if we were producing our own vaccine, we wouldn’t hear unfounded stories like '666 vaccines'. Where have you ever heard such madness? There’s no such vaccine.

“We will never win this war against corona if we are going to denounce science and want to thrive on baseless theories. It’s not going to work.

“It is science that must be applied. We need the vaccine, and we need the vaccine as in yesterday. Anyone who refuses the vaccine wants to spread the coronavirus and kill our people,” charged Malema.

Malema said he will be the “first one in the vaccine queue”.

While Malema did not identify anyone, many believed his “666 vaccines” comment was in response to remarks made by chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng during his visit to Tembisa Hospital late last year.

During a prayer, Mogoeng said: “I lock out any vaccine that is not of you. If there be any vaccine that is of the devil, meant to infuse 666 in the lives of people, meant to corrupt their DNA. Any such vaccine, Lord God almighty, may it be destroyed by fire, in the name of Jesus.”

Malema’s response follows social media calls for him to share his stance on the vaccine after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the nation earlier this week.

Detailing the vaccine rollout plan, Ramaphosa said: “We have put in place a comprehensive vaccination strategy to reach all parts of the country. This will be the largest and most complex logistical undertaking in our country’s history.

“It will be far more extensive than our HIV treatment programme or even our national, provincial and local elections in terms of the number of people who have to be reached within a short space of time. It will require the active involvement of all spheres of government, all sectors of society and all citizens and residents of our country.”