Africa-Press – Eswatini. The country has a shortage of the yellow fever vaccine, causing a major headache for those who have to travel to countries that require that one is vaccinated.
However, those who are desperate for the travel are alleged to be buying fake certificates from employees of the Mbabane Public Health Unit.
This newspaper understands that the health employees have been selling yellow fever vaccine certificates for over E500 to the public.
Some of the countries that require a person to have a yellow fever vaccine certificate include Nigeria, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Mali, Mauritius, Ghana, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This is according to information shared by the World Health Organisation, which further revealed that it has determined that these countries were at a high risk of yellow fever transmission.
According to a source close to the matter, the yellow fever vaccine certificates need to be issued to a person who has already vaccinated and they consist of a passport number for that particular person.
The certificates last for a period of 10 years before a person can renew them.
A source confirmed yesterday that some of the health officials stationed at the unit were selling the certificates for E500-E600 without vaccinating them.
He said the demand varied depending on how busy the airport was, particularly in cases where there were students who wanted to go to schools abroad and when there were company trips that require people to visit countries in central Africa.
He said in some weeks the unit would receive five to10 people, although this varied week on week.
He revealed that the ministry of health has been out of stock for yellow fever vaccine for over two months now and people were being advised to buy the dose in private hospitals but they have since ran out even there.
“The situation has got worse because there are no longer yellow fever vaccine doses in private hospitals and pharmacies.
People who were being vaccinated then bought the vaccine for E600 in private hospitals and it was only E35 to vaccinate in the public health unit,” he said.
One of the health workers in the unit said they were concerned about the issue because their superiors were the ones involved in the alleged corruption.
She said some of them were being forced by their superiors to make the certificates for certain individuals of which she was not sure if they were being reproduced or released for the first time.
“The issue has been going on for the past two months and it has been worse now that the vaccine has run out even in private hospitals.
This is wrong because the lives of Emaswati are being put in danger,” she said. Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union Secretary General Mayibongwe Masangane said they were aware that yellow fever had run out and it was only available in private hospitals. Masangane, however, highlighted that private hospitals no longer had the vaccine now.
“Currently in the country we do not have yellow fever vaccine. It is wrong for anyone to sell the certificate because it means that a person is covered even if they are not. That is deception while people should be telling the truth,” he said.
Masangane added that they once heard of cases where people had vaccinated and misplaced their certificates and not that of the alleged corruption. He said there were records being kept which permitted the reproduction of another certificate at the PHU.
“There is no need for a person to vaccinate again because they are still covered. The vaccine takes 10 years to expire and a person is covered for these years,” he said.
Masangane said it was wrong to issue out certificates to a person who has never vaccinated. He said there were instances where countries were recording many cases of yellow fever and they required that a person vaccinates before getting into that particular country.
contagious
“It is contagious and people were forced to vaccinate so that it does not spread through,” he said.
Ministry of Health Communications Officer Nsindiso Tsabedze confirmed the shortage of yellow fever vaccine last night.
He explained that there had been a delay in the delivery of some vaccines in the country, including the yellow fever vaccines.
Tsabedze warned that it was not advisable for the public to travel without taking the yellow fever vaccine, however, the trend for most people was to wait until the travel was near. He said it was therefore advisable for frequent travellers to take the vaccine as soon as it becomes available.
“There is a risk of getting infected with the virus that causes the yellow fever disease. This is true when travelling to some countries in the world that include those along the equator in Africa and South America,” he said.
However, Tsabedze said the ministry was not aware of the selling of the certificate, stating that nothing had been reported to them. He said the vaccine was offered to the public by government free of charge.
“The ministry is following up with the suppliers and has been advised that the vaccine will be available in the next month. The allegations of selling vaccines or any medical drugs or supplies is discouraged by all means,” he said.
Tsabedze added that the public should not be taken advantage of and there were ethics that guided the actions of health workers.
He said health workers should do no harm and taking advantage of desperate patients or clients was unethical.
For More News And Analysis About Eswatini Follow Africa-Press
