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Western Cape day two mass vaccination a success

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The second day of public vaccinations in the Western Cape saw numerous people heeding the call to get their immunisations.

Nearly a thousand people over the age of 60 were vaccinated on the first day, including faith leaders such as Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.

Video: Numerous people heed the call to get vaccinated in Western Cape

From Tuesday, trained staff went out to old age homes to administer immunisations while people queued at sites across Cape Town.

Anne Koen, an elderly woman,  has been among the people waiting for their inoculation at Karl Bremer Hospital.

For countless people like her, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a harrowing experience. Koen says she has lost friends and family to the virus.

“This virus is working on my nerves. My two sons are like watchdogs, can’t go here, and can’t go there. They encouraged me to register, which I did. I got a message on my phone last night and I felt it’s for my benefit to come and hopefully everyone else,” says Koen.

Inside the vaccination site, Christopher Brothers showed the message he received on Monday evening, informing him when and where to come for his jab.

Brothers contracted COVID-19 in January. He says he has been eager to get vaccinated since then.

“The nurse was very good. She explained everything, which was very impressive.  The system here has been very smooth. A bit of a wait, but you would expect that because it is the second day,” says Brothers.

There was a waiting time to be vaccinated at the site. Authorities say any issues that arise during the initial stages of the public rollout will be used to learn from.

Streamlining the system is key.

Video: Western Cape says the third wave of COVID-19 infections is inevitable

Western Cape Health Department Head, Dr Keith Cloete explains, “Systematically every week we’re bringing on exponentially a number of sites. So it’s not going to be 17 sites, 20 sites, within the next three to four weeks, we should be heading towards 40, 50 sites across the province.”

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine requires two doses. After the inoculation, each person receives their vaccination card with a date for the second vaccination.

The Western Cape has made 75 of its Cape Access Centres available for people to register at.

The number of vaccines allocated to provinces will depend on the number of people that have registered.

 

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