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Gauteng plans to vaccinate 67% of its population against COVID-19

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The Gauteng Health Department says it will vaccinate 67% of the population against COVID-19.

The department says the vaccine will be rolled out in three phases, starting with healthcare workers, then those working in essential services and people living in congregant settings and lastly citizens over the age of 18 who are without comorbidities.

It is still unclear when they will start to the vaccination programme.

COO for the Department of Health in Gauteng, Nomsa Mmope, says: “As Gauteng we are aiming to vaccinate 67% of the population. These people are going to be vaccinated in three phases. The first phase will focus on the health workers both in the public and private sector.”

“So the total population that we are aiming to vaccinate during phase one is 215 101. Then in the second phase we move on to essential workers and as well that are people in congregant settings and in phase three we are going to be looking at people at the age of 18 without comorbidities and this is the general population that we are going to be vaccinating,” Mmope says.

SA to begin inoculation process next week:

On Wednesday, the department assured residents of the province that it is hard at work to ensure the smooth rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available.

Spokesperson, Kwara Kekana, has been commenting on the government’s decision to temporarily suspend the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine amid concerns about its efficacy.

Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize confirmed that South Africa will now be using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the first phase of its vaccination campaign.

Kekana has called on healthcare workers in the province to continue registering to be vaccinated.

“The Gauteng Department of Health continues to prepare for the rollout of the vaccine which includes the setting up of approved vaccination sites in the province across the various districts and the training of personnel, which includes various categories of staff across facilities. The rollout will take place once the announcement of the commencement of the rollout is made by the national Department of Health. Health workers who fall under phase one of the vaccines roll out are encouraged to register on the electronic vaccination data system,” says Kekana.

Earlier, this week the World Health Organisation raised its concern over South Africa’s decision to halt the rollout of AstraZeneca.

The head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called for more research to be done on the efficacy of the vaccine in older age groups that have a higher risk of more severe infection.

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