Hailing a vaccine at Zandspruit taxi rank
The vaccine drive was open to everybody and offered both the Pfizer and J&J
Medical professionals were all out at the Zandspruit taxi rank on September 15 for the Covid-19 vaccination campaign. Area manager of ABCEF, Busisiwe Ramasehla said they would be at the taxi rank the entire day to vaccinate residents even if they had not registered on the official website.
“We want everyone to come and get vaccinated. We will be administering the Pfizer vaccine as well as Johnson & Johnson.” At this stage 14.9 million doses of the vaccine have been administered, however, there is still some reluctance among some citizens as to whether or not to take the vaccine.
“Getting the vaccine does not mean that you are out of danger but we try to reduce the severity of the virus. If a non-vaccinated person contracted Covid, they would land in hospital, end on a ventilator and potentially die. We do not want that. If you are vaccinated, you are protected. If you contract Covid you would just isolate but after 10 days you would be fine because the symptoms are not as severe,” Ramasehla explained.
She explained to the volunteers that people who were due for their second shot were welcome to get it at the taxi rank even if they had received the first jab somewhere else. She equally warned them that some residents would be hesitant to get vaccinated and wary of the side-effects, but they needed to be patient and properly explain everything to them.
The morning ran smoothly with many residents coming out in droves, including passengers and taxi drivers that were already at the rank.
Thembisile Mdlazi said he received his first injection in July and his second jab in August. “I didn’t feel anything with the first one, just some pain in the arm. Even with the second one, I didn’t feel anything. The first one made me strong,” he laughed. “I’m 63 years old but I didn’t feel anything at all.”
He also spoke about the importance of getting the injection. “Covid is killing so many people. The vaccine will keep us alive but we can also work towards building the economy again and getting jobs. It’s really important that we do this. There are families that have been able to see each other because they got the jab so we all need to do our best. When we are sick we go to the doctor, so why are we suddenly scared of doctors? ”
