MAC Advisories

The  ‘Tracking the South Africa ‘MAC’ Advisories – When Expert Advice and Secrecy Collide in a Pandemic: Assessing government transparency in public health decision-making and vaccine prioritisation and selection’’ Briefing Paper explores key examples of the South African government’s response to and action on scientific advice related to vaccinating the nation against Covid-19.

The HJI has been calling for greater transparency on the part of government and private sector players, to ensure that the country’s Covid-19 response is rooted in timely, voluntary disclosure of information, not secrecy, and is based on evidence, not personal or vested interests.

The precedent setting decision matrix and decision making in this pandemic will play a vital role in an effective and rights-based handling of future pandemics.

This Briefing Paper focuses on some of the advice given by Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19 the Vaccine Ministerial Advisory Committee, the delay by the Department of Health in publishing these advisories, and the SA government’s decisions on the prioritisation of certain groups and vaccine selection. It analyses the MAC advisories published on the Department of Health’s portal between 25 August 2020 – 18 August 2021. During this process, 120 MAC advisories were identified and catalogued.

Download the report here.

Download all 120 MAC advisories here.