Gauteng government opens more COVID-19 vaccination sites

The Gauteng government has opened more COVID-19 vaccination sites across the province. The provincial Health Department says it has increased public vaccination sites from 28 to 63 across the five regions in Gauteng.

According to the department, the aim is to ensure that more people who are 60-years and older can get vaccinated. Chief Director District Health Services, Meisie Lerutla, says so far, over 160 000 people including health workers, have vaccinated.

“We are proud to indicate that in terms of the work that we’ve already done in old age homes by Saturday. Already, we had vaccinated over 40 000 in those residential facilities and in total, in Gauteng we have vaccinated over 160 000 people. That includes our health care workers, the over 60, the traditional healers and people working in funeral parlours.”

Gauteng Vaccination Sites. https://t.co/abNumkgylR pic.twitter.com/wZa8XxDP8S

— Gauteng Health (@GautengHealth) May 24, 2021

Gauteng is the most populous province and has some of the most densely populated areas. It is also the economic and transport hub. This means there is easy movement into and out of the province and this could easily lead to the coronavirus virus spreading to neighbouring provinces and across the rest of the country.

Last week Gauteng Premier David Makhura announced that the province had officially entered the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The Northern Cape, the Free State and the North West are also formally in their third wave based on the number of cases surpassing a 30% threshold of the population.

Makhura concerned as the third wave of COVID-19 infections hits Gauteng: