Police next in line for Covid vaccines
SOWETO – Police will look to vaccinate over 180 000 take the vaccine at the official launch of the SAPS vaccine drive.
Police roll up their sleeves to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
The South African Police Service launched their vaccination drive at the Orlando stadium in Soweto on July 5. Police Minister Bheki Cele and National Police Commissioner Khehla Sitole were present along with police officers and members of the service across the country.
According to Cele, over 180 000 officers will be vaccinated starting on July 5 with around 1 000 officers expected to receive their Johnson & Johnson jab on the day. Cele, alongside acting health minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, said the vaccines would enable law enforcement agencies to continue protecting and serving the people with an extra level of protection for their health.
Cele said, “The sad part of it is that we’ve reached this point where we’ve lost about 670 of our members. We wish we could have gotten it earlier so that we didn’t lose those members.”
Cele and Sitole were the first to receive their jabs followed by Sergeant Natasha Govender and Constable Tebogo Rafapa as the first operational officers to be vaccinated. Throughout the day, scores of officers, members and support staff went through the process to get their shot.
Cele was encouraged by the turnout of officers at the stadium and their decision to take the vaccines amid fears and fake news growing around it. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 30 000 police officers have tested positive for Covid-19, often having an impact on the services provided by the police.
From July 8, police stations will be able to send their officers and staff to vaccination sites to receive their jab. Kubayi-Ngubane said, “This is a milestone as we look forward to herd immunity in the country. Quite a lot of progress [has been made] around the vaccine programme as you have seen Sahpra last week announcing the approval of Sinovac as well. This becomes one of the things that boost our morale and boost positively towards our vaccine programme because it means that we now have multiple vaccines that are available to us.”
