Pay attention to potential third wave warnings as winter looms

While many households debate whether they will take or refuse the Covid-19 vaccination, perhaps the warning from several experts that a third wave is likely to bring new variants will influence their decision.

South Africa aims to vaccinate 40 million people – 67% of the population – by the end of 2021.

In his family meeting on Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa once again clarified that people will not be forced to take the vaccination, but that we needed 40 million people to take the jab if we wanted to achieve herd immunity.

On Monday, the first shipment of one million doses of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India arrived here.

Another 500,000 doses will arrive from India this month and two million doses from the global Covax facility by March.

ALSO MORE: New variant likely as third wave looms ahead of vaccination

Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize this week warned that South Africa and the continent “would likely face the third wave … and its impact will even probably be more devastating”.

As of Friday, almost one and a half million people have been infected by the virus in SA, with just under 46,000 deaths recorded.

Public health expert Prof Alex van den Heever also delivered a warning, saying: “We might be able to help some people who are likely to develop severe illness, or frontline health workers, but probably not all the vulnerable people and certainly not the general population.

“It is very probable that we will experience [a third wave], certainly going towards winter because that’s a period in which people spend more time in groups indoors. There are still a lot of people who haven’t been infected – which is what drives the surges.”

Despite the hope the arrival of the vaccine brings, we are still in for a number of challenging months, particularly this winter.

READ MORE: SA could face a third and more devastating Covid-19 wave, warns Mkhize

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