The South African government and scientific community have taken proactive and innovative steps to combat the spread and effects of COVID-19 in the country. These have largely been successful with several responses and initiatives having received international recognition.
According to the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Dr. Blade Nzimande, the South African government’s response to the pandemic has been “serious and urgent”. “South Africa, through the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), has invested in infrastructure to enable world-class research in genomics, epidemiology, vaccine manufacturing, and other relevant fields”. The DSI has also invested in human resource development to “ensure a pipeline of knowledge workers to advance the country’s scientific endeavours”, the sequencing of 10,000 SARS COVID-2 genomes in Africa, hosting the BRICS’ vaccine centre and on COVID-19 research and innovation covering 21 projects (R69.4 million).
These projects include plant-based manufacturing of antibodies for COVID-19, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) entering into an agreement with Kentucky Biological Products for the potential manufacturing of their vaccine antigen, the CSIR readying itself to expand its facility for the manufacture of plant-based expression systems and the research study (R4.5 million) led by the University of the Witwatersrand supporting the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine trial. Furthermore, President Ramaphosa has assigned the DSI to lead the effort to develop a South African COVID-19 vaccine and to increase the country’s capacity to develop other vaccines to support the African continent.
However, success has been undermined by what Minister Nzimande has referred to as the “hi-jacking” of legitimate platforms for COVID-19 related information, the “fake-news and misinformation spectre” and the prevalence of myths about vaccines and virus variants.
These myths include debunked conspiracy theories that link vaccines to population control or infertility, erroneous beliefs (also seen in Europe) about 5G towers, and tracking devices implanted via injection and doomsday interpretations by certain religious groups.
Led by the DSI, officials, and experts are developing a strategy to improve information dissemination and accessibility and to respond effectively to the negative aspects of social media, “fake news” and the many myths that contribute to vaccine hesitancy.
To this end, the DSI hosted a webinar on February 23, 2021, which was attended by South African and international scientists, researchers, health professionals, and representatives from the private sector, academia, and civil society.
Recommendations that emerged from this webinar included the continued provision of the correct information and the dispelling of myths, linking information dissemination to public education, building trust in government as a source of information, promoting scientific literacy, communicating the history of vaccines in South Africa, particularly the almost universal uptake of childhood immunization, continuing scientific and clinical research on indigenous/traditional African plant-medicines, combating the stigma around the incorrectly termed “South African variant” (of which the origin is unknown and which is active in 46 countries) and targeting those who are “vaccine-hesitant” and “vaccine accepting but have legitimate questions” instead of those who are “anti-vaccination” or are already “fixed pro-vaccine”.
