President Cyril Ramaphosa says he is satisfied with the turnout of members of the public to be vaccinated at the DH Williams Community Hall in Katlehong in Ekurhuleni. Ramaphosa launched the Vooma Vaccination Weekend Campaign earlier today.
The aim of the campaign is to mobilise members of the public to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The public and private health sectors, organised labour, business, communities, and faith-based organisations are joining forces in the vaccination drive.
More than eight million people have been fully vaccinated so far, meaning they have taken either the one-dose J&J vaccine or the two-dose Pfizer vaccine. President Ramaphosa has urged people to ignore false theories about the vaccine and instead take it to minimise COVID-19 infections.
“What we have been saying is that vaccination is the best and possibly the only defense we all have against COVID-19. And we are therefore pulling out all stops as government to make vaccines available. It’s no longer a problem. We’ve got all the vaccines that we need and we now need people to respond to this call to say this will also protect their friends, their relatives.”
The President and his entourage, including traditional leaders, conducted a walkabout at a local taxi rank to encourage small business operators, commuters, and taxi drivers to heed the call to go and vaccinate.
President Ramaphosa leads Vooma Vaccination campaign:
Some people have responded positively to the call.
“The President says we must vaccinate. It’s important for us as business people, taxi drivers, children, and all the people, we must vaccinate to save lives.”
Another person says, “ It is important to vaccinate, I call all the drivers and passengers to vaccinate. The President said we must vaccinate against COVID-19.”
Thirty-eight-year-old Nelson Mtshali received his first injection at the DH Williams Community Hall just before midday. The father of two has also encouraged others to follow suit.
“Today it was my first day coming to vaccinate. And I don’t feel anything. They allowed me to stay for 15 minutes. And I’m still ok. So, what I can say is that people must come and vaccinate. What they must do is to trust the people who will be injecting them.”
Precious Molefe, one of the health workers at the vaccination site, has called on citizens to refrain from believing fake news.
She strongly believes there is still a need to educate people about the pandemic and the objectives of the vaccine.
“Sometimes they hear news from other people. So, when they come you must explain everything and make everything clear so that they can understand what COVID-19 is, its side effects, and the things they must do when they have COVID-19.”
The government aims to fully vaccinate at least 16 million people by the end of the year.
