The government’s draft proposals would stop the unvaccinated from enjoying the same freedoms as everyone else – Photo: Patrick T. FALLON / AFP
The government’s draft proposals would stop the unvaccinated from enjoying the same freedoms as everyone else – Photo: Patrick T. FALLON / AFP
Combing through the latest draft COVID laws – which the government hope will replace the State of Disaster – doesn’t make for easy reading if you’re unvaccinated. The National Health Act is planning for life after the pandemic, where certain health protocols will be retained to help control the virus.
The new guidance will be submitted to NATJOINTS next month, and if all goes to plan, South Africa will see its emergency-induced lockdown restrictions terminated for the first time in two years.
However, in some settings, mask mandates and social distancing requirements will still be enforced. The government is also hoping to retain its right to impose harder phases of lockdown, should a devastating resurgence of COVID – or the arrival of ANOTHER serious viral disease – hit our shores.
Once approved, these draft laws will reflect how our society has been changed ‘for good’ by the spread of coronavirus. But this planned return to near-normality will grant more freedoms to the vaccinated over the unvaccinated. For those insisting on avoiding the jab, the new proposals state the following:
Just under half of the eligible South African population have got themselves fully vaccinated. The booster programme has also been rolled out, and although take-up rates are fairly high amongst seniors, other groups lag behind.
Without the high vaccination rates seen in places the the UK and the EU, South Africa hasn’t quite been able to jab its way to total freedom – meaning that a dependency on masks and gathering limits will remain.