WHO science council member Salim Abdool Karim says that Covid-19 vaccines should be made mandatory in South Africa, with exceptions only for those who cannot take a vaccine for strong medical reasons or religious reasons.<\/p>\n
Karim told eNCA that the severity and seriousness of the pandemic mean that the option to take a vaccine is no longer a personal choice.<\/p>\n
“When you (consider) the original virus that jumped from bats and came to humans, it probably just came into one person,” he said. “That one person has caused all the mayhem we have seen today, and probably didn’t even know that they caused it.”<\/p>\n
Karim said that this is also the case for the Covid-19 variants which are currently spreading across the world, with these variants likely starting in just one or two people at most.<\/p>\n
“So even one unvaccinated person poses that risk to the whole world. If that’s the case, and it’s a very strong one, then it can’t be simply a matter of personal choice. It has to be that for the public good that there is a vaccine mandate.”<\/p>\n
Karim said that there may be certain individuals who cannot be vaccinated for strong religious or medical reasons, and concessions must be made for these people.<\/p>\n
However, he said that these people will still need to be tested at least once a week to ensure that they do not put others at risk.<\/p>\n