On 1 March 2021, DearSA’s legal team filed court papers as amicus curiae to bring the voices of 17,000 participants in our Covid-19 vaccination roll-out campaign before the court.
In the government’s court papers, the Department of Health’s Director-General acknowledged that the government could not have total control over the purchase, rollout, and administering of vaccines. As a result, the private procurement of COVID-19 vaccines is not prohibited. By removing absolute control from government, those who do not want a covid vaccine will now have the freedom of choice. Furthermore, the Constitution of SA would need to be amended in order to make vaccination mandatory.
We will continue to monitor government's rollout plan.