Soweto’s elderly vaccinated as phase 2 begins
In Gauteng, the Gauteng Department of Health revealed that 8 060 people had been vaccinated at old age homes around the province as well as those at health facilities as of Tuesday.
South Africa officially launched phase 2 of the vaccination rollout on Monday. The second phase of vaccination is targeting the elderly (over 60s) and healthcare workers. 87 vaccination sites had been identified around the country, with old age homes prioritised. 11 old age homes in Gauteng were identified as vaccination sites and one of those homes was the Soweto Home for The Aged in White City Jabavu which started its vaccination on Monday, May 17.
The center worked closely with the Department of Health to ensure that all those vaccinated were adequately screened beforehand and once having received their jab, were monitored closely to detect any side effects.
Centre Manager, Lucky More said elderly people at the centre had shown great enthusiasm to be vaccinated.
“We know that the elderly are the most vulnerable and they know that too. So there has been that fear in the past and they have been looking forward to getting vaccinated. We’ve seen great enthusiasm from the majority of our elderly,” he said.
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The Department of Health has set itself a target to vaccinate at least 5 million people over the age of 60 by the end of June 2021.
With just over 11 000 people vaccinated on Monday, the Department of Health’s Deputy Director-General, Dr. Anban Pillay said on Tuesday that the department had been able to vaccinate approximately 30 000 over 60s and health care workers on the second day of the phase 2 vaccination roll-out alone.
“Today (Tuesday) was much better because we opened up in the morning and were able to vaccinate both health care workers and the over-sixties. The last count that I checked, we probably close to about 30 000 people were vaccinated today,” Pillay told eNca.
The vaccination rollout strategy includes the gradual increase of vaccination sites. Speaking at a media on Sunday evening, Minister of Health, Dr. Zweli Mkhize said the department hoped to be up to 200 active vaccination sites, with a target of 1.2 million people vaccinated by the end of the week.
In Gauteng, the Gauteng Department of Health revealed that 8 060 people had been vaccinated at old age homes around the province as well as those at health facilities as of Tuesday.
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