Pretoria - Health Minister Joe Phaahla has urged South Africans to vaccinated against Covid-19 pandemic “ahead of the imminent fourth wave that could hit the country soon.”
Speaking at the Gomora Informal Settlement in Pretoria over the weekend, Phaahla described the life-saving vaccines as the only hope of long-term success in eradicating the coronavirus.
“We are not oblivious to the fact that we are not yet out of trouble. The virus is still in our midst and every day we record a number of infections,” the minister said.
He added: “We have all learned over the last 20 months that it is not over. There is going to be another resurgence of the infection and, therefore, we must be ready and protect all our people.”
While South Africa had sufficient stock to inoculate citizens, Phaahla said the government was still struggling to reach people.
“Many of our colleagues in the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region are still struggling to access vaccines for their people. However, we are struggling to get the people to come to the vaccine. It’s embarrassing,” he added.
He was, however, confident that over the next few days 40% of the country’s adult population would have received at least one dose of the jab if not fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the minister announced that South Africa had on Monday reached another milestone after administering over 23 million doses of vaccines to just under 16 million citizens.
With South Africa’s general elections held this past week, many feared an uptake in Covid-19 cases.
The Department of Health’s spokesperson Foster Mohale said they don’t foresee a rise of cases linked to the elections.
He added the department is confident with how the Electoral Commission (IEC) conducted the elections and it is satisfied with the level of compliance with Covid-19 protocols at voting stations.