Mabuza To Protect Vaccines From Corruption

Deputy President David Mabuza has assured South Africans that measures have been taken to curb corruption in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

The Deputy President, who chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) overseeing the vaccine rollout was accompanied by other government officials, conducting an oversight visit at the Biovac Institute in Midrand, Gauteng, on Tuesday.

Biovac is a bio-pharmaceutical company, in partnership with government and the private sector, and is also the storage centre for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines, Mabuza says he’s satisfied with the facility’s capabilities.

“Everything that will come in will be stored here, and will go straight to vaccination sites from here,” he said, speaking from outside the institute’s cold room.

Meanwwhile, Biovac CEO, Dr Morena Makhoana, assured that the integrity of vaccines will be safeguarded, whether the vaccines are in a truck or warehouse.

“That whole value chain has to be maintained and that is what our licence requires, whether there are subcontractors that are used or whether we use our own trucks,” explains Makhoana.

Mabuza will be visiting various sites once government effectively rolls out the inoculation programme in the country.