Covid-19: South Africa hits 20 million vaccination milestone

South Africa on Friday reached the milestone of 20 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine being administered in the country.

This means that around 35% of the country’s adult population is at least partially vaccinated.

There are also 10.7 million fully vaccinated people in South Africa. Fully vaccinated people people are those that have had two doses of the Pfizer vaccine or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson jab.

During the Department of Health’s weekly Covid-19 vaccination briefing on Friday, Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla confirmed that children aged 12 to 17 can get their vaccines from 20 October. 

ALSO READ: 12-17 cohort can get vaccinated from next week, without mom’s permission

Phaahla added that teens can give their own consent for medical treatment, meaning they don’t need their parent’s permission to get the vaccine.

Phaahla also said that South Africans that are immune compromised can begin receiving boosters, but only on advice from their doctor.

As of Friday, South Africa had recorded a total of 2,915,560 positive cases of Covid-19, with 733 new cases identified since the last report. A further 56 Covid-19 related deaths were also reported.

The majority of new cases recorded on Friday were from the Western Cape (22%) and KwaZulu-Natal (20%). Gauteng accounted for 15%; Eastern Cape and Free State each accounted for 11% respectively; North West accounted for 7%; Mpumalanga and Northern Cape each accounted for 5%; and Limpopo accounted for 4% of the new cases, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

ALSO READ: Covid-19 update: SA records 733 new cases and 56 deaths

Global vaccinations

Cuba leads the vaccination race among countries with more than one million inhabitants, inoculating 1.92% of its population every day.

Iran followed with 1.57%, New Zealand with 1.46%, Lebanon (1.24%), South Korea (1.22%) and Vietnam (1.20%).

The United Arab Emirates and Portugal have the most advanced vaccination drives, having fully vaccinated 86% and 85% respectively of their populations. Spain and Singapore follow on 78% each.