National vaccines shortage

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This, he said, had been confirmed by Deputy Health Minister Gwen Ramokgopa last week.

But Joe Maila, spokesman for the national Department of Health, did not acknowledge the shortage when approached for comment yesterday. He said the department was not aware of the "extent" of the problem.

"But we will investigate the matter as a matter of urgency and intervene immediately to ensure that vaccines are available," he said.

Botha said that when he brought the situation to the attention of the national authorities nothing was done.

But, he said, Ramokgopa "confirmed the national shortage" in an SMS on Friday.

"The reason for the current shortage is that [the vaccines] failed South African quality assurance tests.

"The three vaccines ... have been out of stock for three weeks," said Botha.

He said children who had missed scheduled immunisations would be able to catch up at their next scheduled visit to a clinic.

Quality assurance is the responsibility of the National Control Laboratory.

Biovac, the company that manufactures the vaccines, notified the national Department of Health of the "impending shortage in July", according to Botha.

"Provinces were made aware of the impending shortage but no press release was issued by the national Department of Health, and communication with regard to the impending vaccine shortages appears not to have reached the minister of health," said Botha.

He said he expected the supply of the vaccines to start stabilising next month.

Source: The Times