S. Africa Vaccinations against Covid are delayed after looting of pharmacies

South African chemists assisting the government Covid-19 vaccination campaign warned Monday that unrest in the country would slow inoculations in the continent’s country most affected by the pandemic.

An association representing more than 1,100 pharmacies said the violence had left pharmacies “looted and destroyed with millions of rand of essential drugs” lost.

With nearly 2.2 million cases of coronavirus detected, South Africa accounts for 37% of the infections recorded on the continent, and the government recently announced its intention to step up vaccination.

Just over 4.2 million people, a tiny fraction of the country’s 59 million people have been immunized, and the government aims to administer a quarter of a million vaccines per day.

But the Independent Community Pharmacy Association said that “has now become impossible as pharmacies’ vaccination sites have been destroyed and looted.”

“It is with complete dismay that as independent pharmacies, on the front line against Covid-19 infections and as the main player in vaccinations, we find ourselves in a desperate situation,” he said in a statement. .

He also warned that the “frenzied” looting itself was creating potential super-spreader gatherings.

In the past two weeks, the country has been plagued by a vicious third wave driven by the Delta variant first identified in India, averaging nearly 20,000 new cases daily.

Troops deployed to two provinces, including around Johannesburg, on Monday after unprecedented post-apartheid unrest, sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma, left six dead and widespread looting.