The Honourable Siviwe Gwarube MP,

I have written a letter to the Honourable Minister of Health to support the call for the release of more information on the progress of the vaccine campaign, especially the adverse events, in order to allow people to make informed decisions on whether to be vaccinated or not.

Here is the contents of my letter:

An open Letter to the Minister of Health, Minister Mathume Joseph 'Joe' Phaahla, Dr.
Vaccine hesitancy
Dear Minister of Health,

I am lying here in bed recovering from COVID-19. I had my Johnson and Johnson vaccine on 28 July. I tested positive on 30 August. So, I think I classify as a breakthrough case.

I read an article on vaccine hesitancy in the Daily Maverick today by Dr Bridget Farnham, titled "Vaccine hesitancy? No, government failure." I decided to share my thoughts with you. She finishes her article with this sentence: "We need information, widely disseminated, in as many forms as possible, right now."

Why is there vaccine hesitancy?

We, the people, have not forgotten that we are part of an experiment. This is not a straightforward proven medication with a good track record and approval. We have the right to know what this vaccine is doing to our bodies.

Here are some issues that I believe people would like to be informed on:

As of today, there have been 13,1 million doses given and 6,3 million people are now fully vaccinated.

In an article on 12 Aug, by Tebogo Monama, for news24, titled "Covid-19: Sahpra probe finds deaths of 29 vaccinated people not linked to the jab."

To me this is unbelievable. I believe it is not statistical possible to have given 13 million vaccinations and have no deaths linked to the vaccine. This is where the public need to be informed truthful about adverse events just as effectively as we are informed of the rollout numbers. The article states: "He said if a person is buried and their death certificate states "natural causes", and no post mortem examination was conducted, it becomes impossible to determine any causality." It seems essential that if a person dies shortly after being vaccinated, a post-mortem must be carried out. Otherwise, the actual cause of death will never be known. This is still an experiment. We want you to share the true results. We are in this with you, Minister. Please respect us.

Here is a quote from YaleMedicine, "The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine and Blood Clots: What You Need to Know" BY KATHY KATELLA AUGUST 4, 2021:

"Six cases is a small number, considering that over 6.8 million Johnson & Johnson shots had been administered as of April 12. (By May, 9 million doses had been administered and the number of rare blood clot cases had grown to 28, six of them in men, according to the CDC. At that point, three people had died.)"

Let the statistics show the picture. This will hopefully quell the rumours on social media and allow people to make informed decisions.

Please share that there are breakthrough cases. What are the outcomes of these cases?

Please update us daily on how many of the people who die were vaccinated. How many people who died were unvaccinated? How many had received treatment?

Then there is the issue of the vaccination of pregnant women. Please share the adverse reactions of these women and their babies. Many people have ethical concerns about experimental vaccines and the reaction of the unborn child. We need to know the prevalence of premature births and other problems.

There are many more questions that need to be answered. Vaccine hesitancy among the youth may have to do with the adverse effects of Covid-19 on males struggling with erectile disfunction after recovery and rumours that the vaccine can produce the same effect. If data on the prevalence of this is not provided to the youth, many will not be convinced to take the vaccine. You have excellent support from the best medical professionals in our country. The data is available. All we ask is that you share it. I believe it is your responsibility to provide your people with accurate information.

It should be pushed out to us. We should not have to rely on Google searches to try and get information. Therefore, people are following social media because there is a lack of information from Government. You need to trust us to make informed decision ourselves.

As a country, we have a chance here to catch up, go ahead and set the gold standard for information distribution. Challenge our statisticians. They can achieve outstanding results.

Philip Willcock
Centurion
04 September 2021