KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala says the provincial government will partner with religious groups and traditional leaders to enhance the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out campaign.
Zikalala has condemned those who are discouraging people from getting the jab.
According to the Premier, people who have been vaccinated stand a better chance of not getting severely ill if they contract COVID-19.
“There is serious propaganda against the vaccine. We are grateful that two critical sectors have come on board. The first is the religious sector, they are now with us, they want us to go to churches to get people vaccinated. The second one is traditional leaders to ensure that in each village there are volunteers to get people who have not vaccinated to go and get vaccinate. It is proven and the recent report in terms of this new variant indicates that if you have been vaccinated, you stand a chance of being better and not to get worse of sick in a severe way.”
In the related video below, KwaZulu-Natal launched its very first COVID-19 drive through vaccine site in a bid to accelerate its vaccine efforts:
Vaccine hesitancy
Some psychologists are of the opinion that vaccine hesitancy stems from several factors including a lack of information.
According to the Health Department, more than 27 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in South Africa thus far.
As of today more than 27 million vaccine doses have been administered. Thank you SA #VaccinateToSaveSouthAfrica #VaccineRollOutSA #COVID19 #vaccinated pic.twitter.com/J4OZWp55vf
— Department of Health (@HealthZA) December 10, 2021
Psychologist Lerato Motsalane-Wana says more needs to be done to address vaccine hesitancy in the country.
“I am of the opinion that people’s reluctance or hesitancy to vaccinate is actually valid when viewed from their perspective or context. When you got no knowledge of vaccination, it’s going to sound like a crazy idea. The hesitancy or reluctance may not only stem from limited information but also from an understanding of that information. Once we have that information, do we trust the person who is giving it to us? Do we trust the actual information?”
In a bid to mitigate vaccine hesitancy, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority, in partnership with the Department of Health and other stakeholders, hosted a webinar earlier last month.
Representatives from the religious community, Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, and Professor Hannelie Meyer from the National Immunisation and Safety Expert Committee were among the speakers.
They outline more details in the video below:
