Western Cape Health Minister Doctor Nomafrench Mbombo has made an impassioned plea to members of the public to get vaccinated and not to allow fake messages to persuade them to take a stand against vaccinations.
Mbombo was speaking in a digital press conference to provide an update on the provincial vaccination programme.
Over 1.8 million people have been vaccinated in the province so far.
Authorities say the province has reached the peak of the third wave of coronavirus infections and is slowly approaching a decline.
Mbombo says misinformation is hurting government efforts to save lives.
“Come to our hospitals 3400 plus people who are occupying our beds with COVID-19, if you don’t understand that we have got 17 000 deaths in the province. If you don’t believe that COVID-19 is there come to our mass fatality centre in Tygerberg and see those 32 bodies that are there. If not compare what has happened between the first and the second wave around the healthcare workers, in the second wave December alone where we lost 54 healthcare workers in this province in one month compare now July to August, only 21 died and the majority of them were not vaccinated.”
Addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy: