DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE GOT IT WRONG
The National Department of Health calls on the Democratic Alliance to immediately retract and apologise for a statement issued on January 14, 2020, entitled 'Was National Treasury the real culprit in vaccine delay?'
In the statement, DA MP Geordin Hill-Lewis incorrectly and perhaps purposefully misrepresents comments made National Department of Health Deputy Director General Dr Anban Pillay in a recent interview published in the Financial Times.
Dr Pillay did not suggest that National Treasury delayed South Africa's COVID-19 vaccine acquisitions.
In fact, sections of the article where Dr Pillay is quoted reads:
In an interview with the FM, health department deputy director-general Anban Pillay says though many countries secured vaccine doses in advance, even they are battling to get their hands on stock. The only vaccine currently available from manufacturers is the Pfizer vaccine, he says.