Some people in Johannesburg have expressed renewed fear upon news of the new COVID-19 variant, BXX1.5.
This as many opted not to return for their second or booster jabs since the lifting of COVID-19 related restrictions.
However, healthcare workers say they have seen an increase in people coming back to be vaccinated.
Professional nurse Vaccine Site Manager at the Charlotte Maxeke hospital, Grace Sinah says they have been seeing more people coming to get vaccinated over the past few weeks.
“Since December, especially the last few months of December, we have seen a number of people coming for vaccination. I must say when [it] was announced that the masks can be dropped … you saw a little bit of a decline in the number of people [taking the vaccine].”
“But around December, we saw people coming in number. Those coming are saying that they got new jobs. They’re supposed to start in January, and then they were requiring a vaccination certificate. Another reason was because a lot of people were traveling to their own places or provinces, even those that were overseas,” adds Sinah.
She says others came because of fear and to seek more information about the new variant.
“Yes, they are … they’re very scared. They’ve been coming in asking lot of questions with regards to that [vaccine]. There are still some people that are voicing those concerns in terms of you know, when I get sick when I die, my neighbour died after taking the vaccine. Those are the people that only got one jab for J&J [Johnson & Johnson]. They’re coming back and say, no, we’re happy now.”
People also came to enquire about being vaccinated at the George Goch Hostel in the Johannesburg CBD.
“This is not my first vaccine, I got vaccinated a few months ago. But now I’m here because I don’t want to hear of people dying. I am very scared and that is why I decided to come and get vaccinated because I heard about the new variant.”
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Dr Ron Whelan, Chief Commercial Officer at Discovery Health, says there is no noticeable increase in the number of daily vaccinations amongst Discovery Health clients.
However, Dr Whelan says they have seen an uptick in infections over the Christmas and New Years period, likely as a result of the new XBB1.5 variant.
“Over 80% of members over the age of 60 are vaccinated, which is an important population. We have seen a reduction in vaccination over the last year or so. It hasn’t picked up materially since the announcement of the XBB1.5 variant. People are seeking more information about the new variant. The XBB1.5 has raised some concern.”
“It did lead to a very significant outbreak in Singapore in October/November last year and it does seem to be leading to some outbreak in the north, eastern part of the US where we are seeing a significant increase in both infection numbers as well as hospitalisation rates. In terms of the discovery health population, we have seen a slight increase in the number of infections but hospitalisation fairly low. We certainly do not see higher rates of death at all,” explains Dr Whelan.
Whelan has emphasised that COVID-19 is still around.
He says its important for the public to keep on vaccinating, protect the elderly and continue to be cautious.
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