Residents in Free State town urge government to open more vaccination sites

Some residents in Tweespruit in the Free State are appealing to government to open more vaccination sites in the area.

The small town has one vaccination site which operates on scheduled dates. Residents allege that at times when they arrive on the day for vaccinations they are told that the vaccines are finished.

The residents say having more sites for vaccinations will help many people in the Mantsopa area.

Some allege that they have to travel to the nearby town, Thaba Nchu to get vaccinated. At times they say they are sent back without getting the inoculated and are told the vaccines are finished.

The Free State Department of Health says its vaccine roll out drive in the province is on course.

Spokesperson, Mondli Mvambi, says there is one vaccination site that services four towns including Tweespruit that people in those areas can go to.

Mvambi says the vaccination roll out drive in the Mantsopa area is going well.

“We are satisfied with how our people have been working because we’ve been doing everything in our power to make sure that we inform people on time on when we are coming to that area. So Tweespruit is very small that is why we are concentrated on one area called Dawies Hall, which is accessible to all people and population groups of the local area. We are satisfied that the support of our vaccinators they give to all four towns is adequate and sufficient and enable us to meet out roll out plans. And we are satisfied that we are able to vaccinate people in that area, for instance, we have done a lot of work already.”

The Thabo Mofutsanayane and Mangaung districts have been dominating in numbers of recorded daily infections in the province. To date, the province has vaccinated over 500 000 people out of a targeted 1.9 million population.

 Residents in Tweespruit in the Free State appeal for more vaccination sites:

City of Cape Town dispatches mobile vaccine stations

The City of Cape Town has dispatched three mobile vaccination stations to areas with low vaccination uptake in the metropole. The service is operational in Nomzamo, Philippi and Delft.

Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Zahid Badroodien, says they hope the service will help to curb the trend of vaccine apathy that is slowly creeping in.

“The vaccination vans will be able to complete registration of clients and to administer their vaccines. As with permanent vaccination sites, priority will be given to persons 60 and older. They can walk in without having registered, to be assisted with that, but also to have their vaccine administered immediately.”