South Africa’s Response to COVID-19: Realities and Challenges of the Vaccination Roll-Out Process

What is it about?

The paper provides a critical analysis of the South African government’s economic response to the COVID19 crisis and the current roll-out of vaccinations in South Africa. Vaccination was deemed the right way towards economic recovery. The increased rate of vaccination has boosted confidence and lifted global economic growth projections (Stoddard 2021). The South African government acted promptly towards being one of the first African countries to receive Covid-19 vaccines. The country promptly set up national-level committees to oversee and develop national deployment plans. However, the mere accessibility of a vaccine is not enough to secure extensive immunological security; the vaccine must be accepted by the health sector and the general masses in the country. Nonetheless, the South African government’s strategic efforts to deal with the disease and vaccination roll-out in responding to Covid-19 remains a significant challenge. Factors such as customary practices and beliefs, vaccination misinformation, such as fear of risk perceptions, sensational Covid-19 news from media and online platforms, illiteracy, race and ethnicity, income, mistrust in science and politics amongst many have also played a significant role in transmitting the virus in rural areas due to a lack of knowledge and information. The paper concludes that vaccination roll-out should be accelerated to increase the population’s immunity against covid-19

Featured Image