DURBAN - The national Department of Health and the South African Pharmacy Council has appealed to the public to report any misconduct related to the Covid-19 vaccination rollout programme.
The appeal came after the health department’s social listening report flagged an allegation regarding misconduct by a pharmacy.
The social listening report is a multi-stakeholder report that tracks social media and public sentiment.
Health department spokesperson Foster Mohale said the report had revealed an allegation of misconduct.
He said the report made mention of at least one private pharmacy which had registered as a vaccination site and received vaccine doses, which was allegedly deliberately destroyed. It was further alleged that they trick the system by claiming that an unvaccinated client has been vaccinated, which is registered on the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS) so they can then receive the vaccine passport.
Mohale said they encouraged anyone with information on allegations of abuse of the vaccine rollout to contact the department so that people can be brought to book and be investigated for their unethical behaviour.
Vincent Tlala, registrar and chief executive of the South African Pharmacy Council said although they were unaware of a pharmacy conducting such misconduct as alleged by the social listening report by the health department they took the matter seriously.
“We have reached out to the compilers of the Covid-19 Social Listening Report to provide us with any information they may have to enable us to investigate the allegation and institute disciplinary action against any wrongdoing.
“Should we receive information about a pharmacy engaging in such conduct, we will immediately suspend their Covid-19 vaccination permit while conducting investigations. Once misconduct is confirmed, we will immediately institute disciplinary action,” said Tlala.
He said attempts to cheat the EVDS system constituted gross misconduct, and, if any pharmacy was found involved in the alleged acts, sanctions that may be meted out against them included de-registration and the removal of such a pharmacy’s licence.
“Furthermore, such criminal acts may be referred to law enforcement agencies for further action. The South African Pharmacy Council continuously monitors compliance with legislation, Good Pharmacy Practice rules and the Pharmacy Code of Conduct.
“In our continuous monitoring inspections, we have not come across a pharmacy that undertakes misconduct relating to the electronic vaccine data system in the manner alleged,” said Tlala.
The Independent Community Pharmacy Association (ICPA) said it also strongly condemned any abuse of the EVDS system and the forging of Covid-19 vaccination certificates.
Jackie Maimin, ICPA chief executive said the implications of forging vaccination certificates or any individual falsifying information about being vaccinated can damage the entire Covid-19 vaccination process, and seriously jeopardise the safety of others.
Maimin said: “I do not believe that it is the pharmacies or vaccination sites who are abusing the vaccination certificates. The EVDS and SVS (stock visibility system) are highly secure platforms and only authorised individuals are able to access these systems, issue vaccine voucher codes and validate vaccination certificates for the public.”
The ICPA said it believed the Covid-19 vaccination process was being undermined by a few individuals who were simply issuing vaccination certificates for a quick buck by selling fake vaccine certificates.
Maimin said the organisation believed the EVDS and SVS (stock visibility system) were both well designed systems that ensured the smooth and accurate distribution of vaccinations to the public.
“The EVDS has a process for the issuing of a vaccination card with the validated voucher number, which can only be done once a person has been vaccinated. The vaccination card without a “validated” voucher is quite useless.
“For example, if a person with a false vaccination certificate was to register for a digital vaccination certificate, the voucher number would not be picked up on the EVDS and a digital certificate would not be created – the person would be considered by the EVDS as an “unvaccinated” person.
“The SVS system on the other hand is responsible for ensuring that the number of vaccines at a vaccination facility matches the number of issued validated vaccinated codes. This is to ensure even distribution of vaccines to different vaccination sites by tracking how many vaccines have been sent and how many have been processed on the EVDS system. If the numbers do not match, the Department of Health would have red flags and an investigation would commence,” added Maimin.