Deputy President welcomes the support by social partners to government’s vaccine roll-out plan

Deputy President David Mabuza, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Covid-19 vaccines, has today held meetings with various sectors of society. The meetings were intended to provide an update on government’s roll-out plan for vaccines, and also to mobilise support from social partners.
 
The Deputy President was joined  by Ministers who are members of the Inter-Ministerial Committee and they held consultations with traditional leaders, inter-faith leaders and social partners at NEDLAC. The leaders of the sectors expressed appreciation to government for creating the platform and opportunity to be consulted on government’s national plan for the rollout of vaccines.
 
In welcoming the consultation, traditional leaders said they were encouraged by government’s initiative to hold the meeting with them early on in the process. With these engagements, they expressed hope that all of society will get behind the government’s vaccines roll-out plan. They all committed to be part of the roll-out and work in partnership with government in encouraging their communities and constituencies to take part in the vaccination programme. Traditional leaders called for the implementation of stringent measures to prevent any possible acts of corruption in the rollout of the vaccines.
 
It was also agreed that through Government Communication and Information Systems, a communication toolkit in all official languages will be developed for communities in order to enhance social mobilisation and garner support for vaccination.
Equally so, the consultations with inter-faith leaders were positive and they were all united in their commitment to partner with government including availing their facilities as vaccination sites should such a need arise. They further called on government to involve young people in the religious sector to counter negative sentiments and fake news about the vaccines.
 
Social partners in NEDLAC, namely organised business and labour and community constituencies reaffirmed their commitment to continue working with government in the fight against Covid-19 and to build on existing initiatives of fighting the virus including the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines.
 
Organised business also reaffirmed their support of the government-led and centralised vaccine procurement and their participation in both resource and social mobilisation programme. In this regard, they expressed their full confidence in government’s ability to secure adequate amount of doses required to achieve population immunity. 
In the same vain, organised labour encouraged government to draw on the lessons learnt in the roll-out of anti-retroviral drugs so as to use this opportunity to build the capacity to locally manufacturing of vaccines. 
 
Similarly, the Community Constituency committed to partner with government to mobilise civil society to participate in the vaccination programme and stem the tide of fake news within society.
 
In responding to these sentiments, Deputy President Mabuza said “We are encouraged by the positive spirit of cooperation that we received from traditional leaders, inter-faith leaders and social partners at NEDLAC. We appreciate that this process does not end here, but it is ongoing engagement and partnership as we work together towards population immunity. We are grateful for the commitment to partner as expressed by social partners at NEDLAC, traditional leaders and inter-faith leaders.”
 
The Inter-Ministerial Committee on vaccines was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa to provide overall political oversight of the vaccination programme including its acquisition, distribution and rollout.
 
 
Media enquiries: Matshepo Seedat on 0826799473
 
Issued by : The Presidency
Pretoria