The good news is that the number of positive Covid-19 cases and the number of deaths due to the virus in Nelson Mandela Bay have started to decline.
The bad news is that, at the same time, vaccine take-up has also taken a downward turn – from a peak of 8 000 people per day down to an average of 4 500 last week.
With only about 24% of the metro’s population vaccinated up to last week, this downward trend is extremely worrying, causing concern that unless the vaccination rate goes up, the rate of hospitalisations and deaths is going to turn upwards again.
The slower the pace of vaccination, the faster the predicted fourth wave of infections moves towards us, carrying with it a fresh round of devastation of lives, businesses, and jobs.
This might sound melodramatic but, based on the experience of the past 18 months, of illness and deaths, lockdowns, business slowdowns and closures, short-time and retrenchments, and the scientific evidence of the efficacy of vaccines in front of us, the Business Chamber leadership believes this is a realistic view.
Lockdowns, closures of public facilities, restrictions on movement and gatherings, in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, have left no industry untouched, with our tourism, hospitality and entertainment sectors particularly hard-hit.
The unofficial unemployment rate in the metro is now at an all-time high of over 40%.
Clearly, we cannot continue like this, and we must do everything possible to limit the social and economic impact of a fresh wave of infections brought about by relaxing of restrictions, letting our guards down, and the slow pace of vaccinations.
The vaccines now widely available, proven effective in limiting transmission and preventing severe disease, and shown to have very little and very rare side-effects, provide a way forward to limit further unnecessary loss of lives and to avoid lockdowns and restrictions that harm our economy and our social fabric.
Achieving a level of at least two-thirds of the population vaccinated will also enable South Africa to come off red lists for travel, enabling the return of tourism which supports jobs and livelihoods.
Globally, and in South Africa, the evidence of the efficacy of vaccines in preventing severe illness and hospitalisation, saving lives, is clear.
In just one local example, earlier this month, Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town published its current admissions data, showing that 99% of Covid-19 patients were unvaccinated, and of those in high care and on ventilators, all were unvaccinated. Groote Schuur’s head of infectious diseases, Dr Marc Mendelson, earlier reported that he had yet to see a vaccinated person developing Covid pneumonia, needing intubation or ICU admission.
Similarly, private hospital group Mediclinic reported that Covid-19 patients in its hospitals needing high care or ICU were “mainly unvaccinated”.
Prof Shabir Madhi, Dean of the Health Sciences Faculty and Professor of Vaccinology at Wits University, who is heading up SA’s vaccine trials, has emphasised that the central purpose of vaccination against Covid-19 is to protect against severe disease and death, pointing out that vaccines currently in use provide more than 90% protection against severe Covid-19 disease and reduce the risk of transmitting the virus by 50%.
Given the nature of how viruses spread, that 50% reduction in risk, compounded, means a substantial reduction in people being infected with the disease.
The Business Chamber has taken a firm stance to support widespread vaccination, because on the scientific evidence to date this is the most effective tool that we currently have available to save lives and restart the economy.
Restarting the economy means getting businesses back on track, getting people back into jobs, and is an absolute necessity for enabling all role players in society to respond to the economic and social impacts of the pandemic.
Leaders across business, government, unions, political formations and civil society have a responsibility to share credible, factual information based on scientific evidence to address vaccine hesitancy.
As companies like Discovery and Sanlam begin to introduce mandatory vaccination policies, they are acting in line with moral and legal responsibilities to provide a safe working environment for employees, suppliers and customers.
They are acting as responsible employers in upholding the rights and interests of the collective to a safe and healthy environment.
Any introduction of mandatory vaccinations at places of work, study or recreation, needs to balance the rights of society against the rights of the individual, as our Constitution does; needs to offer education and factual information; and needs to offer reasonable accommodation to those refusing vaccination on reasonable grounds.
A vaccine passport is just that – a passport for a return to normal, a passport for getting our society and social lives back, a passport to re-booting our economy and protecting jobs and livelihoods.
Loyiso Dotwana is President of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber.