We note with great alarm the predictions from the National Modeling Consortium that healthcare facilities will be overrun in the next one to two months, and the mounting accounts of health worker fatalities due to COVID-19. [...] Infection control We applaud the South African government for its proactive stance on the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for health workers, and the adoption of the public #Masks4All approach. [...] By contrast, the development of a more effective TB vaccine has only received a fraction of the resources and interest, despite remaining the leading infectious cause of death globally , by a big margin. [...] Despite the novelty, strength of the evidence underpinning the study objectives, safety and rapid potential availability, and the tragic fact that three health workers have already lost their lives to COVID-19 at the main trial site among more than a hundred infected colleagues , the trial has been unable to attract any official public research funding. [...] Clin Pharm Resident, School of Pharmacy, University of the Western Cape ● Lynette Mabote, Treatment Action Group ● Nicole Hoffman, Pharmacist, University of the Western Cape ● Peter Ng’ola, Wote Youth Development Projects and member of The Union Community Advisory Panel ● Peter van Heusden, Researcher, University of the Western Cape ● Phumeza Tisile, Drug-Resistant TB Survivor & TB Advocacy Office.
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- South Africa
