‘Friends, Sowetans, countrymen, bring us your arms,’ pleads Phaahla

South Africa is now in a position to vaccinate more than 300,000 people daily, Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla said on Friday, during a briefing at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto.

Phaahla said South Africa had a sufficient number of vaccine stocks, vaccination sites, and manpower to inoculate more people daily, in line with the target set by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

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But, the minister said, vaccine hesitancy and fake news remained a challenge when it came to the uptake of the jabs among citizens.

“As much as we would wish for more people to come forward [to vaccinate], we have the capacity currently with all the sites and mobile sites to can actually do what the president has said, between 300,000 and 400,000 vaccinations a day throughout the country.

“It can be done and we do have that capacity after building it after the many months since January this year,” he said.

The highest number of vaccinations recorded in the country in a single day was more than 280,000.

“So the numbers have been vacillating between 250,000 and up to 290,000 a day,” he said.

Enough vaccines for the entire Soweto

The minister said government was also in a position to vaccinate the entire population of people living in Soweto.

“Where we are now, even if the whole of Soweto was to turn up, we can vaccinate them. We would be able to provide enough vaccinations,” Phaahla said.

“We also have the capacity with the vaccinators and the vaccination sites. I want to assure South Africans that we are ready. All that we need is arms to come through so that we inject you.”

As of Thursday, 13, 112, 268 people were vaccinated in South Africa.

Hesitancy and mandatory vaccinations

On the debate regarding mandatory vaccinations at workplaces and vaccine passports, Phaahla said government was leaving this up to employers and service providers to decide on, as long as they do not deny citizens their constitutional rights.

“At this stage, it’s not our priority to even start thinking about what kind of legislation or regulation that every adult must vaccinate. That’s not our priority.

“So, we want to just observe that debate [and] we are not going to get involved.”

Phaahla said government was also exploring its options to incentivise and encourage more people to get their jabs.

“Our priority is to mobilise and convince people to come forward voluntarily and take the vaccine.”

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