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16 September 2021 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe | Photo Supplied
Dr Samantha Potgieter.

As COVID-19 vaccines continue to be a topical issue in South Africa and indeed in the world itself, the Department of Human Resources held a webinar for the UFS community on 10 September that delved deeper into the questions surrounding the vaccine. 

Dr Samantha Potgieter, infectious disease expert at the Universitas Academic Hospital and affiliated Lecturer in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of the Free State, addressed some commonly raised concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine and how it affects us.

Dr Potgieter started off by saying that coronaviruses have been causing outbreaks among humans for millennia. While COVID-19 is relatively mild and self-limiting in 80% of patients, 20% of patients are at risk of developing severe disease.
She said before a vaccine could be introduced to a population, it had to go through rigorous testing and clinical trials. Only once safety has been confirmed, it can be released and distributed. 

“This process usually takes about ten years; this is what we are used to. But it has happened much quicker for the COVID-19 vaccine, and I think this is a fact that many people misinterpret – that the evidence might not be that robust, which is certainly not the case. COVID-19 vaccines have gone through all this rigorous testing, thousands of patients had volunteered for trial testing studies. The point is that we already had the technology, vaccination is not something new to humans. So, these preclinical trials were able to happen very quickly, and because of the large number of infections and because the focus of the entire world was on finding a cure, it was a very set process to get these trials through the adequate phases.” 

She said the COVID-19 vaccine was approved by national regulators, manufactured to exacting standards, and only thereafter distributed – as is the case for all drugs released into the market.

How does the vaccine work?

Dr Potgieter said the vaccine works by producing antibodies against the COVID-19 virus. If you are infected with the COVID-19 virus after getting vaccinated, these antibodies bind to the virus and stop it from replicating.

“When you get infected with a disease such as COVID-19, natural antibodies are produced by the immune system to fight the disease. If you get infected again, the immune system will remember how to respond, and quickly destroy the virus. A vaccine can do the same, but without the risk of disease from natural infection. Vaccines work by imitating a bacteria or virus using either mRNA in the case of the COVID-19 vaccine, or a dead or weakened version of the bacteria or virus. The vaccine raises the body’s alarm. It trains the body to recognise and fight the virus. When the body encounters the real-deal virus, it is primed and ready to fight for the body’s health.”

She said South Africa had the mRNA vaccine in the form of the Pfizer vaccine, and the adenoviral vector vaccine in the form of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Why should you get the vaccine?

Dr Potgieter said vaccines are safe and effective, and the most compelling reasons for getting vaccinated are the following:

-To protect yourself from severe disease
-To protect those around you who may be at risk of severe disease
-To restore the social and economic platforms of the country, and the world at large.
She said that while the vaccine does not prevent you from getting COVID-19, it offers better protection against the development of severe disease, and vaccinated people had 50% less chance of spreading the virus.
The most common side effects of the vaccine are the following:
-Pain at the injection site
-Swollen lymph nodes
-Fever
-Fatigue
-Headache
-Myalgia (muscle pain)

“These are indications that the immune system is mounting a response. When it mounts a response, it produces antibodies,” she said.

Answers to commonly asked questions are the following:

1. Can the vaccine alter my DNA?
“No, it goes nowhere near the nucleus of the cell.”

2. What happens when you get COVID in between the first and second doses?
“Some protection is conferred after the first dose, but maximum protection is conferred two weeks after the second dose. Vaccination is still advised.” 

Dr Potgieter said patients who were between vaccinations still show better recovery results than those without.

3. What about natural immunity?
“Natural immunity might confer better protection, but it runs the risk of severe disease. Yes, immunity can be gained through natural immunity, it can be gained through vaccination, and it can certainly be gained by a combination of the two.”

4. What about long-term side effects?
“Serious side effects that cause long-term health problems following any vaccination are very rare, including the COVID-19 vaccination.”

To get the answers to more of your questions, the webinar can be accessed via the following link: https://event.webinarjam.com/go/replay/43/053q6a8vay9a0qa2

News Archive

Traffic in translation between French and Afrikaans follows unique direction
2017-11-21

 Description: Traffic in translation between French and Afrikaans  Tags: Traffic in translation between French and Afrikaans

At Prof Naòmi Morgan’s inaugural lecture were, from the left:
Profs Corli Witthuhn, Vice-Rector: Research; Morgan;
Heidi Hudson, Acting Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities;
and Angelique van Niekerk, Head of the Department of Afrikaans
and Dutch, German and French.
Photo: Stephen Collett

Translation is normally done from a so-called weaker language into a mightier one. This is one of the ways, according to author Antjie Krog in her book A Change of Tongue, which is used by a ‘weaker’ language to help it survive.

However, according to Prof Naòmi Morgan, Head of French in the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French at the University of the Free State (UFS), this is not the case with French, which is the mightier language, and Afrikaans.

Influence of translators on Afrikaans

“The number of translated titles from French into Afrikaans, from ‘great’ into ‘lesser’ language, is far more than the other way round, almost as if the translators wanted to make the Afrikaans-speaking readers literary self-sufficient, but did not feel the same need to extend the Afrikaans literature into other languages.”

This was Prof Morgan’s words on 8 November 2017 during her inaugural lecture entitled, Van Frans na Afrikaans: 100 jaar van byna eenrigting-vertaalverkeer, in the Equitas Auditorium on the Bloemfontein Campus. A PowerPoint presentation, with a symbolic background of the South African and French flags and relevant texts, formed part of her lecture. She also played video clips and pieces of music to complement it.

Among others, she has a doctorate in Modern French Literature from the University of Geneva, and her translations have earned her a French Knighthood and various prizes. She is also well-known for her translations and involvement in dramas such as Oskar en die Pienk Tannie and Monsieur Ibrahim en die blomme van die Koran.

Greater challenges in this direction

In her lecture, she looked at the two-way traffic from French into Afrikaans and from Afrikaans into French.

Three French citizens, Pierre-Marie Finkelstein, Georges Lory, and Donald Moerdijk, have translated from Afrikaans into French. Of course, their background and ties with South Africa also had an influence on their work. “In Moerdijk’s case, translation from Afrikaans, his second language, was a way in which to recall the country he left in his mind’s eye,” she said.

Prof Morgan is one of only two translators who translates works from Afrikaans into French, the other being Catherine du Toit. However, translations in this direction pose greater challenges. She said it involves “not only knowledge of the language, but also knowledge of the French target culture and literature”. In addition, there aren’t any good bilingual dictionaries, and the only Afrikaans-French dictionary is a thin volume by B Strelen and HL Gonin dating from 1950.

Prof Morgan still believes in translation

She believes there is a need to hear foreign languages such as French in the form of music in Afrikaans, and the speaking of a language alone might not be enough to ensure its survival. 

She still believes in translation, and quoted Salman Rushdie’s Imaginary homelands: essays and criticism 1981-1991 in this respect: “The word ‘translation’ comes, etymologically, from the Latin for ‘bearing across’. Having been borne across the world, we are translated men. It is normally supposed that something always gets lost in translation; I cling, obstinately to the notion that something can also be gained.”

Click here for Prof Morgan’s full lecture (only available in Afrikaans).

 

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