Tutu, elders lead the way on Covid-19 vaccinations

Leading by example and to show the country that “there is nothing to fear” from the Covid-19 vaccination, a jovial Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu was inoculated in Cape Town yesterday, along with his wife, Leah.

He and other society elders made an emphatic statement yesterday by turning out in their numbers for the first jab of the Pfizer vaccine.

“The Arch” had earlier agreed to be an ambassador for the vaccination campaign, remarking that “many people are scared or wary of this simple, safe and effective way of protecting people against infectious diseases before they even come into contact with them. There is nothing to fear.”

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The 89-year-old anti-apartheid icon and his wife were inoculated at Cape Town’s Brooklyn Chest Hospital.

As phase two of the government’s drive to vaccinate five million people over the age of 60 by the end of June kicked off, scores of older citizens were vaccinated at Munsieville Centre where they were joined by Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, Gauteng premier David Makhura and health MEC Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi.

Mkhize acknowledged that the start of the process might appear to be slow, because small numbers were being vaccinated to allow staff to deal with any teething problems.

“We will increase the number of sites as the week progresses. On Sunday, I announced that this week we would startwith about 87 sites, by the end of the week we would have reached to 200 and keep increasing as the number of the vaccines also increases,” he said.

“We’ve collaborated with [the SA Social Security Agency] because there are many citizens in small towns, villages and townships who are not in old-age homes, which will help us to locate them.”

He confirmed that 2.1 million people registered on the electronic vaccine data system (EVDS) and over 1.1 million were health workers who were also getting vaccines this week.

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The Munsieville Centre for the Aged was filled with a buzz of elderly people in queues eagerly waiting to get vaccinated.

At 71, Ntina Kgokong said she was happy because receiving the vaccine would mean she was less susceptible to the virus. Munsieville Clinic nurse and facility manager Hazel Moeketsi said she was impressed with the progress made.

“The process was well organised because preparations took two weeks for this day to be a success. We had more than 120 elders booked here for today to get vaccines. We will continue until Friday at this site,” she said.

Mkhize said the second round of vaccinations would take place when everyone received their first vaccine.

“The second round of vaccines will be needed after three weeks, but other studies from the United Kingdom showed if you wait for three months, the level of developing immunity is much higher than those that get it earlier and we are looking into that.

“What that does for us is it allows us to vaccinate people for the first time as long as we can, so by the time we need to do a booster, we’ll have a much higher flow of vaccines into the country,” he said.

The minister also said the original targets for vaccinating about 40 million people – the number needed to achieve “community immunity” – would not be met.

It had been hoped to get to that number by the end of this year, but this would now only be achieved in the first quarter of next year.

“The largest numbers of vaccines are going to be coming in during the coming months. Between now and end of June, no less than two million vaccines from Johnson & Johnson are expected and then about 4.6 million will come from Pfizer. Both should be able to give us enough vaccines for the first dose to vaccinate the country. Between July and October, we should be getting about 19 million vaccines.”

Mkhize discouraged walk-ins at any sites as it created shortfalls.

“There’s one national vaccine programme that dispenses vaccines in public and private centres. It was controlled from the EVDS system where people received their invitations for vaccinations and where they will find out the date, time and site. It could be a public or private pharmacy or general practitioner. “So, you would go where the message tells you as they are all part of the network,” he said.

Mkhize added that it was important for people who have received vaccines to still adhere to Covid-19 protocols.

asandam@citizen.co.za