End the National State of Disaster, NOW! – health experts

John Maytham interviews Shabir Madhi, Wits University professor of vaccinology.

• South Africa has not been successful at preventing infections, despite restrictions

• The country needs a plan for the next pandemic

• It needs to end what’s left of Covid-19 restrictions in a matter of weeks

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Some remaining Covid-19 regulations are causing more disruption than the pandemic and must be scrapped, according to many of South Africa’s leading health experts.

Future variants are inevitable; however, widespread population immunity is likely to continue offering protection against severe disease and death, according to Wits University professor of vaccinology Shabir Madhi.

“Covid-19, during the course of 2022, is unlikely to cause any more deaths than would have occurred before Covid due to the flu, which accounts for about 11 000 annual deaths in South Africa," Madhi said.

Madhi says the now reversed decision to do away with quarantine and contact tracing was informed by science and slammed the National Department of Health’s (NDoH) decision to pause its plan to do so.

John Maytham interviewed Madhi (scroll up to listen).

We haven’t been successful in preventing infections… We need to have pandemic preparedness, beyond Covid-19…

Shabir Madhi, professor of vaccinology - Wits University

We need to set a timeline [for ending restrictions]. And that timeline should be a matter of weeks rather than months.

Shabir Madhi, professor of vaccinology - Wits University

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