Last week I was attending the annual conference of the SA Association of Public Administration and Management (SAAPAM) in Durban but left a day before it was concluded to receive my second dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
Even as the conference proceedings were of great importance to me as a scholar of public affairs and a member of the association, I was unwilling to miss my vaccination appointment at the Momentum Metropolitan vaccination centre in Sandton. With my birthday approaching, it was in many ways an early birthday gift.
The truth of the matter is that a few months ago, I was almost convinced that I would not get vaccinated. With vaccine nationalism that impeded on the capacity of developing countries to administer much-needed vaccines to their citizens, while wealthy nations were hoarding them, I was certain that some of us were going to become statistics.
This was worsened by the SA government’s haphazard handling of the vaccine rollout and what was a clear sign of lack of ideas on the part of the executive on how to fight this pandemic that was decimating our country and its people.
The devastation wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic in our country is incalculable. I had never doubted that Covid-19 was real, but there was a time when it seemed so far away from us, when it was happening to other people.
But then it came to SA and it decimated our already ailing public health infrastructure. There was a time, just a few months ago, when I was so terrified of reading yet another “Rest in peace” post that I deactivated my social media accounts for months. The numbers of the deceased had turned into names and it was names of people I knew and loved.
Every week, someone I had known for years was being buried. Every week, someone I knew was in hospital hooked up to a ventilator, or at home battling to stay alive. An ex-boyfriend of mine, one of the most amazing human beings I know, was documenting his horrifying battle on Facebook. It was gut wrenching.
When registrations opened for people aged 18 and older, I registered immediately. I was scared. I had been scared for over a year. On the rare occasion that I would leave my house to go to the shops to buy groceries, or to the pharmacy to buy medication, I would hear ambulance sirens blaring all around me. William Nicol Drive was littered with ambulances driving hurriedly to transport patients to hospitals across Sandton and Fourways. In my mind, these were Covid-19 patients, some of whom would not survive. It was absolutely terrifying.
A number of people are still dying and becoming infected every day. The road ahead is still long because a significant portion of our population remains unvaccinated. And we know that until we reach herd immunity, we will not be able to flatten the curve.
I urge those who are anxious about getting vaccinated to read more on the vaccine. It is deeply concerning that most people who are refusing to be vaccinated are using pseudo-science, religious dogma and fake news as a basis for refusing the vaccine.
The government is also not doing enough to ally people’s legitimate concerns, as well as to communicate the right information about inoculation. The consequences of this will be deadly.
But today I am celebrating, alone in my house. I sit here fully vaccinated and hopeful. I am deeply grateful to have survived to get to this point, because many died before they could.
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