By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
EFF leader Julius Malema has threatened to engage in mass action protests including a protest outside the home of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) chairperson if Sputnik and Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines are not authorised within the next seven days.
The EFF wants the Russian and Chinese created vaccines to be authorised by Sahpra and distributed to South Africans.
Malema said J&J was given preference because it is from the west and those who gave money to the CR17 campaign to allow President Cyril Ramaphosa into the presidency were from the pharmaceutical industry. They formed part of white monopoly capital and he described them as puppet masters of the president.
Malema also took a swipe at President Ramaphosa and made calls for the release of the CR17 campaign trail’s finances.
Thousands of EFF members marched to the Sahpra head offices in Pretoria on Friday under the banner of “March to Save Lives”.
They have also demanded that the Sahpra board chairperson Hellen Rees be removed with immediate effect.
He said Rees must resign because of her husband’s involvement with Aspen, which is a partner in the production of the J&J vaccine at the Gqeberha plant.
“No lovey-dovey and pillow talk on the vaccine, we need boardroom talk we need scientific talk, “Malema said.
“We want a vaccine now and we want her to go. She has become a stumbling block for us getting a vaccine.”
Malema said the march was “rolling mass action” and the party would not rest until everyone is vaccinated.
SAHPRA on Thursday held a webinar aimed at debunking assumptions about the vaccine approval process and assuring citizens of SAHPRA ’s independence and scientific precision with which it handles applications for Covid-19 vaccines and other medicines.
SAHPRA CEO Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela said the body had dedicated significant resources to managing and expediting the process of vaccine approvals.
There are three factors considered in the application: quality, efficacy and safety. In terms of quality, the body looks at whether the product complies with good manufacturing practices, while efficacy relates to scientific evidence that the medicine works as proposed.
The safety aspect looks at adverse effects, which is an ongoing data collection process.