Imtiaz Sooliman – Don’t rush the roll out, cautions doctor Imtiaz

From the beginning, it was when covid 19 hit the country,

everybody was starting to panic, and the solution, everybody said,

lies in the vaccine. The problem is that we know the that the virus

that's so aggressive that has killed so many people worldwide,

that is still very active all over the world, and the numbers haven't

really come down relatively it means it at some point, this is

the type of virus that's going to mutate. And when you're pushing

for a vaccine very early in the in the history of the virus, it's

possible that you're going to get the wrong vaccine. And that's

exactly what happened in the restaurant case. It may not be

wrong for some other parts of the world, but for South Africa,

because we got a mutant sprint. And in fact, new researchers just

come out that in the first part of last year, there were 42 different

variants, of which 16 were not recorded. And of the 16, the new

one is, you know, the fo, 1b 501, y, v2, is one of those variants.

So we Yes, it's understandable way people responded. There was panic,

especially with the healthcare workers. I mean, what kind of

safeguard do they have? They're losing colleagues, they're losing

family members, and you understand the difficulty that they're facing

because they are in the front line, but we had to be prudent,

because if you take all the precautions, you know, and all and

still being worried about getting the vaccine, which is important,

and you make all the arrangements, you spend, all the money, you

create, all the hope the vaccine comes. And we can see how people

were dejected. The medical fraternity. Were very dejected

when this is any kind of vaccine was not known or not seen to be

positive support or works against the salary constraint.

Fortunately, there was a replacement. Professor, Glenda

Gray was very good in getting the Johnson and Johnson one. But this

one also, although it's 57 is a good start, it's much more than

22% it gives the medical fraternity more hope, you know.

And I'm very happy for them, because, you know, they've all

been racing to the to the sites, to the 18 sites in the country, to

get vaccinated. But I say we need to be cautious, because this

vaccine is under study at the moment. It's not a vaccine that

has been released after studies have been done. Those 80,000

people taking the vaccine are part of the study. They're not a result

of people getting the vaccine after the study was done. So it's

a vaccine. It's still in the in the study stages, but given the

circumstances, because people say, Okay, it's it has been safe, and

yes, from the last few days, the reports coming from the medical

fraternity, you get a bit of a fever, some body ache, you know,

and maybe someone, some of them, got a rash or two, but nothing

unmanageable, and within two or three days, they've recovered. So

the safety aspect is there? What we don't know is, how long will

the vaccine last for? In terms of antibodies, for how many months

will it cause, you know,

immunization? Secondly, will it work if new strains come? We don't

know that. And strangers keeps and the strains keep changing, so we

don't know that. And also, the vaccine is still not registered in

its own country, in a for, for for use, for in the general public, in

America, it's still under experimental phase. And in South

Africa too, it's not recommended or not registered for use in the

general public. It's an experimental phase. So all those,

all those who have registered or taken the vaccine, have to be part

of this two year trial for the vaccine itself. And what is the

risk to that? According to you?

Well, to me, I the part time worried about is. And, you know,

I'm, I'm hopeful that people will be and I mean, medical

professionals will be rational, because if everybody takes that

vaccine, they need to understand that although they are vaccinated,

they may not be immunized. Mm, so, in other words, we have, we

vaccinated so many people, but I'm so confident that you can walk

into a ward and say, discovered 19 patients here, and I'm not I'm not

worried. I'm vaccinated and I'm immunized. The danger of that is

you can get infection even though you've been vaccinated. And worse

than that, you can carry, carry it onto your family. You can pass it

on to your family. You can be a carrier, because though you're

vaccinated and you don't have the right amount of antibodies and the

right response to the vaccine, it can be a problem. So we can

actually create a false sense of security,

which can be a very big danger. It's been a huge danger. Look,

already the government is some places are shutting down field

hospitals, but I'll be honest, I was in a favor of field hospitals.

From the beginning, my idea was, or my thought was, let's upgrade

existing hospitals. Then you got them post covid 19 for anything

else. Now you decommission field hospitals and all that money is

gone. It got no value. And we set the example. We took a hospital in

Mitchell plain.

Nine, and we converted the whole Ward into a dedicated covid 19

facility at for a cost of 10 million Rand. But it's therefore

always now for somebody else did something similar in settlers, and

we did something similar in Bucha hospital. So we we keep harping on

the vaccination, but if the strains keep changing, we still

know we have made no progress in terms of dealing with the virus,

where we should be focusing, with life saving with a definite end

result, put oxygen points in all the hospital, put stuff. I mean,

up till now, nobody has addressed the issue of putting more staff to

back up the healthcare workers in hospital. We've already shot short

staffed even before the pandemic came. And the pandemic, I mean, it

exhausted the healthcare personnel. And in the second wave,

how many passed on? Many passed on an exhaustion is one of the main

criteria for that. So we need to spend a lot of money putting

healthcare workers in and putting oxygen points and oxygen machines

to be on standby in case the third wave hits us. What do you suggest

we do then to go about this in in a better way,

uh, treating this

more to our advantage. Look, it's a given if, if the third wave

comes, we will know what this virus does in the second wave. Of

course, it required far more oxygen than the first wave because

of the strain it the type of condition it caused people needed

much more oxygen than the first wave. So let's be prudent. Let's

hope it doesn't happen. Let's hope it doesn't require that amount of

oxygen. But we know what it has done, so the rational thing to be

to do, because a lot of people died outside hospital. They died

in their cars, they died in accused and they died in the

emergency because there was not enough oxygen points, and it was

not enough oxygen. So we can't save everybody. Let's be just we

can't save everybody. But if you put more oxygen points, increase

the bulk oxygen supply, put in more stuff to manage the people,

we can do a huge difference. You know, if the same type of wave

comes the third time around. The second important point is to make

sure ask the public, at their own cost, who can afford it by pulse

oximeters, one per house or one per two houses, because a lot of

the patients who came to hospital, the oxygen saturation was already

40% and they were smiling, and they didn't know they were ill,

and they just dropped dead at the hospital because they look so

well, so people having pulse oximeters at home just randomly.

Even if there's nothing wrong, you just test yourself and test your

own family. That could be life saving again. The other thing that

could be life saving is putting oxygen machines in ambulances,

because ambulances are the first port of call. They fetch the

patients from the home and many ambulances were driving in

circles, round and round and round until a point became available at

the hospital, whether private or public, whilst having oxygen

machines and oxygen in ambulance, that patient could be kept alive

for six, 810, hours until the hospital the ambulance can find a

hospital that can take the Patient. Now, all these

arrangements should be put in place without relying on the

vaccination. The vaccination is a parallel program. Yes, if the 57%

works and it works against the South African strain, and

antibodies develop, and antibodies last six, 810, months, it's

fantastic. It's a great achievement. Run parallel what the

preparation of the patients, but at the same time also reset other

vaccines. They said, You know, some other vaccines are far more

efficient, but they haven't been tested in HIV patients, or other

type, you know, or some similar kind of studies in the South

Africa situation. But we can then use those vaccines in non HIV

patients, in patients where, if it works against the South African

strain. The trial is done. Let's use it in non HIV patients,

because then you have a basket of vaccines modified to work in

different conditions, in different patients with different

comorbidities, or no comorbidities. On condition, they

work against the South African strain. You run a parallel program

for