Vaccination in South Africa: Some Recent Trends

By Gargi Bagchi, Managing Editor- The African Gazette      As South Africa battles the deadly third wave of Covid-19 with severe repercussions felt on the economy, health and overall society, an organized vaccine rollout programme happens to be the only answer to safeguard the population and bring about a semblance of normality in life.

A few slipups in the Covid-19 vaccination program by the government saw the country fall behind several others on the entire continent, leaving millions unvaccinated and in the throes of uncertainty as the menacing third wave engulfed the country.

A silver lining – some recent data

However, even with a delayed start, the good news is that South Africa has been so far successful in implementing the national vaccination programme in a phased manner, as envisioned by the government. The country’s phase one vaccine rollout programme that started on February 17 saw healthcare workers being administered as a priority; since then the rollout has proceeded in full steam, with more than 4 million vaccine doses already administered as on July 8 2021, as per an update from the health department. More than 1.2 million population have received full vaccination – either two Pfizer doses or one Johnson& Johnson.

According to a recent department of Health report, Gauteng province administered the maximum doses – over 900,000. Other provinces aren’t far behind with KZN at just below 900 000, Western Cape at close to 600 000, Eastern Cape at around 500 000, Limpopo at 460,000 followed by Free State and North West at around 200,000, Mpumalanga at 185,000 and finally Northern Cape at around 60,000.

More registration

There is more good news round the corner. With 60 year-olds and 50 year-olds already receiving their vaccines, the latest update by acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi on July 9, Friday brings forward another milestone. The announcement states that Covid-19 vaccination registration for people aged 35-49 will be opened from July 15 and vaccination for this group would begin from August 1. In her earlier announcement in June, Kubaiyi stressed on the urgency of 40 years and older people getting vaccines, because they are active, moving and are important to save the economy as well.

Minister Kubayi also mentioned that South African government has been working towards administering vaccines at weekends too. The Treasury and Department of Health are in unison over releasing funds for ramping up public sector weekend vaccinations. Efforts are also on to boost up vaccine supply in the upcoming days and reach a goal of administering 300,000 jabs every day.

Are the Vaccines helping?

The government of Western Cape reported very recently that out of the 23,000 health workers vaccinated, 320 have contracted Covid-19, but there was no case of fatality. This is quite reassuring considering the exposure of the health workers and surge of infections in the province. The vaccines being used in the country have gone through proper clinical trials and it’s no wonder that they work.

Going Forward

Ongoing negotiations should be on for active procurement of updated vaccines that will be effective in tackling different variants for both in the current year and the next one. In order to curtail the danger of ongoing transmission in the vaccinated population causing severity of the illness, proactive purchase of enough and more doses is necessary. Overall, a higher clarity in strategy execution along with correct basis for decisions are the need of the hour to deal with the vaccine quagmire.

Gargi – Currently Managing Editor of The African Gazette, she has been an independent content creator, researcher and editing professional. With 12+ years of experience across diverse writing genres, Gargi comes with an exposure of working with a multitude of global clients in the digital space. She has a penchant for reading and researching on new topics, and enjoys listening to music and traveling. She can be contacted through Email or Linkedin

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