DETAILS ABOUT THE ASSIGNMENT
Instructions
This is an assignment.
Read case study below and consult unit 1 and 2 of the study guide and make use of prescribed
textbook and other sources of information.
Your assignment should consist of a cover page, body (from introduction to conclusion), reference
list and declaration (refer to page 8 of the study guide regarding the length of the assignment).
This assignment must be submitted via Moodle on the date provided in the study guide.
Read the case study below and complete the questions.
After the spread of COVID-19 since its emergence in March 2020. The South African government
opted the massive vaccination drive, which the latter viewed as a barbaric act due to lack of plans or
strategies in place. While this was arguably if it is a good way to roll-out the vaccination programme,
compared to other African countries and the world, South Africa was not ready to do given the gaps in
the implementation approaches. These gaps contributed to the most people left millions unvaccinated
as a potential savage fourth wave is expected to descend on the country. While various concerns were
raised, which among others was the absence proper vaccine procurement practices established,
including the distribution network, as well as access to the first large batch of vaccines on the continent,
and many pandemic and vaccine experts. Bear in mind, that prior-COVID-19, South African
government already had in place number of vaccines drives such as childhood and antiretroviral
vaccine programme. These vaccine roll-out programmes were claimed being poor implemented with
weaknesses in overall coverage. However, the success factor has only be witnessed from private
sector perspective with the distribution of vaccines and experience of rolling out large programmes,
such as antiretrovirals.
While the country was staggering from a first wave of the pandemic and numerous lockdown phases,
the country was forced to roll-out a . To of the
vaccination drive, in September 2020, the South African government, through its National Corona
Command Council (NCCC) established a vaccine subgroup (the MAC Vac) of the Ministerial Advisory
Committee on COVID-19 (MAC). The MAC was made up of a small group of individuals from
virologists, regulators and other public entities. This subgroup recommended COVAX, which is a
pooled procurement and distribution initiative aimed at securing large volumes of vaccines for countries
that might struggle with bilateral agreements.
At that time (particularly, in December 2020), it was evident that the South African government did not
have vaccine strategy at any level of maturity apart from the fragile COVAX arrangement. Despite also
asserting that individual companies had in fact been approached, there was no evidence of this,
including within the publicly released MAC Vac advisories.
In late June 2021, South Africa received its first 1.4 million doses of Pfizer vaccine through the COVAX
facility. It remains unclear what will be delivered of the roughly 10.6 million doses still owed to South
Africa during 2021. As no signs of a coherent strategy by the government were surfacing, a group of
academics drafted a 10-point vaccine strategy in early December 2020 to prompt a strategic response
from government. According to experts, the following four considerations should form part of the
strategy for 2021 and into 2022:
First, bilateral negotiations need to be the doses already
booked. These should focus on the more effective vaccines that are likely to move into
surplus during the latter part of 2021 and into 2022. Therefore, negotiations need to be
ongoing with proactive procurement for both 2021 and the whole of 2022.
Second, South Africa should be advance purchasing the updated vaccines which could
have higher effectiveness against the variants of concern. These should include
agreements well into 2022.
Third, rather than advance purchasing too few doses, or just enough, consideration
should be given to purchasing more than is required. This would cater for the contingent
risk of ongoing transmission resulting in severe illness in the vaccinated population. It
would be a mistake for South Africa to again take its foot off the pedal when the
opportunities for bilateral contracting are increasing. But the window for astute early
action is closing.
Fourth, and more generally, greater transparency in strategy, implementation, and the
strategic rationale for decisions is required, given the importance these decisions hold
for the well-being of the country.
(Adapted from: van den Heever, A., Valodia, I., Veller, M., Madhi, S. A., Venter, W.D.F. 2021. Covid-19:
A timeline of SAs failed vaccine rollout. Available online at: https://theconversation.com/south-africasvaccine-quagmire-and-what-needs-to-be-done-now-163784 – accessed on 10th March 2022).
Topic: How to delegate tasks successfully?
Purpose of this part of the assignment
The purpose of this part of the assignment is to bring about awareness of the importance of effective selfmanagement.
Questions:
According to the Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19 (MAC) the successful rollout of the
countrys vaccination programme requires delegation and collaboration. Therefore, as a Director/Chief
Director/HoD advise the MAC on the following:
1. Define and explain the need to delegate.
2. Distinguish between responsibility and authority and identify the main person (from the
above) with whom such authority and responsibility rests.
3. Establish the rules for successfully delegating responsibilities.
4. Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of delegating.
5. Explain what effective delegating in the workplace entails, and advice on how this can
influence success for the Department of Health?