EDITORIAL | State’s Covid carnage-to-creativity rollout is exactly what we need

The government’s approach to the latest Covid-19 variant should be applauded. A sigh of relief rippled through SA as President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday no new restrictions would be imposed despite the arrival of Omicron. Ramaphosa’s criticism of other countries’ kneejerk reaction to the discovery of the new strain was justifiably loud and clear. SA seems to be keeping a clear head while “pandemic theatrics” (as The New York Times writer Zeynep Tufekci called it this week) played out in other parts of the world. 

Now is the time to stay calm. This is not to say the new Omicron variant should not be taken seriously. SA’s positivity rate has shot up dramatically. The proportion of Covid-19 tests coming back positive rocketed from two percent to nine percent in less than a week. The real problem, however, is our low vaccination rate, with just more than a third of adults fully vaccinated. At least the rates are higher in the older and more vulnerable age groups, but our population is not even close to herd immunity. 

Ramaphosa made it clear on Sunday night that the government’s approach to try to manage this pandemic has shifted from lockdowns to a focus on vaccinations. It is a sensible move. For many, the economic carnage brought on by Covid-19 was too much to bear. “In taking the decision not to impose further restrictions at this stage, we considered the fact that when we encountered previous waves of infection, vaccines were not widely available and far fewer people were vaccinated,” the president said.

Afriforum signalled in a letter to Ramaphosa that the organistion would oppose any decision by the government to make vaccines mandatory, arguing it would amount to unjustifiable violations of personal freedoms. This is another kneejerk reaction, akin to other countries prohibiting travel to and from SA.

SA’s biggest headaches are not only a looming fourth wave of infections, but also vaccine hesitancy. This is why it should be welcomed that our government has embarked on consultations regarding mandatory vaccines. “Government has set up a task team that will undertake broad consultations on making vaccination mandatory for specific activities and locations. The task team will report to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Vaccination, chaired by the deputy president, which will make recommendations to cabinet on a fair and sustainable approach to vaccine mandates.” 

Already on Monday AfriForum signalled in a letter to Ramaphosa that the organisation would oppose any decision by the government to make vaccines mandatory, arguing it would amount to unjustifiable violations of personal freedoms. “We should not be giving the government consent to use it in an increasingly expanded array of situations. Vaccine mandates are unjustifiable in a free society,” Ernst Roets said.

This is another kneejerk reaction, akin to other countries prohibiting travel to and from SA. The government hasn’t announced a decision yet, merely saying it would start a consultation process on the matter, and specified that mandates would be for “specific activities and locations”. Before coming out guns blazing, AfriForum and anyone else opposed to the idea should hear scientists out, participate in consultations and weigh the facts of the matter. To instantly declare war on the idea is not constructive.

As Ramaphosa said on Sunday: “We have started learning to live with the pandemic.” This remains a learning process that must include consultations, furious debates and difficult conversations and, in the end, some hard decisions will have to be made. It is the only way forward.