The Pharmacy Council has urged members of the public not to buy medicine including any vaccine doses that were stolen during this week’s looting. It says the looted items could cause harm if administered without the guidance of a pharmacist.

Many pharmacies that were looted in townships face closure because of the financial losses.

Council CEO, Vincent Tlala, says 131 pharmacies were looted in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

“Roughly you require something like about R1 million to put up a pharmacy. So some of them might not be able to recover it might take two to three years to recover from this. What is worry some is that for the last 10 years we have been trying to bring services to under-served areas of the so-called previously disadvantaged areas where we have pharmacies closer to the people now they will have to take taxis to get their medicines.”

A statement released on Monday by ICPA media spokesperson Shanaaz Bayat says it will be impossible to reach President Cyril Ramaphosa’s target of vaccinating 20 000 people daily because independent pharmacy vaccination sites have been destroyed and looted.

Gauteng hospitals under immense strain as COVID-19 admissions increase:

Source: SABC