David Mabuza takes vaccination message to Mpumalanga

Deputy President David Mabuza is leading the vaccination roll-out strategy in Mbombela, Mpumalanga

Mabuza told residents that South Africa would “return to play” in the stadiums, theatres and art festivals by taking vaccines.

“By taking vaccines, we will be able to return to play and enjoy games from this iconic stadium as well as enjoy the likes of the Cultural Xperience, Innibos, Mpumalanga Show and many other exciting events throughout the Province,” said Mabuza.

He reminded residents that the effects of Covid-19 were felt globally. But it had a catastrophic impact locally.

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“Our subsequent risk-adjusted nationwide lockdown measures sharply exposed underlying fault lines in society and brought to the fore the extent to which the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality manifest themselves,” said Mabuza. 

He had this to say to the vaccine-hesitant and anti-vaxxers: “The longer we take to fully open up the economy and allow the unhindered process towards economic reconstruction and recovery, the more challenging it will be to improve the situation in the shortest possible time.”

As the festive season approaches and amid a looming fourth wave, Mabuza reminded the community that value chains in sport, cultural and creative industries had been disrupted – leading to businesses closing down and massive job losses.

“We thus come together here today as social partners on this campaign, with renewed vigour to work in unison in finding solutions to our prevailing challenges, including holding one another’s hand to defeat this pandemic.”

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He reminded people that Mpumalanga remained a tourist hotspot.

“This province offers the landscape, the best of our country’s wildlife, and that contributes immensely to attracting foreign and domestic tourists, thereby creating much-needed jobs.”

He said if Mpumalanga achieved population immunity, the province could relax Covid restrictions and increase visitor numbers. 

“As a government, we have secured enough supply of vaccines doses for all categories of the adult population. Vaccines are the only available and credible solution we have to ensure that we are adequately prepared and armed to face the changing coronavirus variant strains,” Mabuza concluded.

To date, more than six million South Africans are now fully vaccinated. The goal is to reach 40-million people, which is the threshold for population immunity.