President urges citizens to register for Covid-19 vaccine
Close to 2,7 million citizens had been vaccinated by midnight on Saturday.
The country’s Covid-19 vaccination programme has picked up significant momentum.
This is according to the President, Cyril Ramaphosa, as he announced a return to adjusted lockdown level four regulations in terms of developments in the country’s response to rising Covid-19 infections.
As of midnight on Saturday close to 2,7 million South Africans had been vaccinated and in the last week, the daily vaccination rate surpassed 100 000, he announced.
“In the last three days, we have received an additional 1,2 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and 1,4 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine through the Covax facility. With these additional supplies, we will be able to rapidly increase the rate of vaccination in the weeks that follow.”
He said that in line with the national roll-out plan, over 950 000 health care workers have been vaccinated across the country thus far. The second phase of the rollout, which includes the vaccination of the over-60-year-old age group, continues to yield good results. In the quest to reach all five million citizens in this age group, each province has embarked on social mobilisation drives to assist the elderly to register and receive the vaccine. To date 3,8 million people have been registered on the electronic vaccination database.
Ramaphosa announced that the national vaccination programme will continue along these defined streams:
Stream 1: The general population according to age groups. The 50 to 59-year-olds can begin registration on July 1 and vaccination will start on July 15.
Stream 2: This stream has already commenced with people working in the basic education sector, with 184 000 vaccinations recorded to date.
Stream 3: The police and other security personnel. Vaccination will start on July 5.
Stream 4: Through workplace programmes in key economic sectors including mining, manufacturing and the taxi industry.
The president urged all who are eligible to register for the vaccine – whether it is online, via SMS, by phone, or in person, and warned against the spread of any misinformation regarding the vaccines.
“False stories are being spread on WhatsApp groups, on social media, and by word of mouth claiming that the vaccine is not safe, that it can make you sick, or that it doesn’t work. Please think long and hard before you press ‘share’ or ‘send’. Consider the harm you may be causing. You are spreading panic, fear and confusion at a time when we can ill-afford it.”
If citizens have questions about the vaccine or are unsure, they should consult the information provided by the Department of Health and from doctors.
The Vaccine Ministerial Advisory Committee will continue to consider all data at its disposal and adapt its advice as and when new evidence emerges, he said. “We must remember that some vaccinated people may still become infected, regardless of variant, because no vaccine is 100% effective. When vaccinated people do get infected, the symptoms tend to be mild. The most important thing is that any of the vaccines we are rolling out will protect you against severe disease, hospitalisation and, most importantly, death.”
The president also reminded citizens to continue to follow public health guidelines, even if they had been vaccinated.
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