VACCINATE, VACCINATE, VACCINATE!

That's the unequivocal message from South African scientist Shabir Madhi, who has become a respected figure the world over as he advocates for jabs to fight Covid

- NASIFA SULAIMAN

IF THE theme song from Ghostbusters could be adapted to the fight against Covid it might go something like this: if there’s a weird virus/in your neighbourhood/who are you gonna call? Shabir Madhi!

The good doctor’s number is the one everyone dials when they want to know something about the pandemic. Cases increasing? Call Shabir! A new variant running rampant? Call Shabir! Clarification needed about vaccines? Call Shabir!

His face has appeared on TV screens around the world, his authoritative voice has seeped from radio stations from Limpopo to London, and his views have been tapped into by experts and government officials alike.

Little wonder then that the 55-year-old professor of vaccinology and dean of health sciences at Wits University hasn’t had a proper holiday since the first wave crashed ashore in March 2020.

He did recently manage to take a week off– and then what happened? He got Covid for the first time.

But because the professor practises what he preaches, he’d been doubled vaccinated and had his booster – and he doesn’t really want to think about what might’ve been if he hadn’t.

“My pulmonologist looked at my inflammatory markers and told me if I hadn’t had the vaccines I would’ve ended up in the hospital,” he says. He got it quite mildly and it was soon business as usual.

Shabir can’t stress the importance of vaccines enough. South Africa is likely to see the next wave of Covid within the next four to six weeks, he says, and we can’t afford to let our guard down.