Durban - It’s been nine months since the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine for the age group 18 to 34, but only 5.5 million have opted to be vaccinated.
As the country enters its fifth wave of the pandemic, with more than 100 500 lives lost to date, vaccination in this age group remains slow.
This age group makes up the majority of the adult population in SA, accounting for 17.7 million out of 39.7 million.
Almost 50% of South Africans 35 and above have opted to be fully vaccinated.
However, it could be be months before South Africa vaccinates 50% of its entire population.
The government has made calls to people, urging them to vaccinated, as it is the best form of defence against the virus.
This week, Dr Ozayr Mahomed, a public health medicine specialist at UKZN, said we should brace for high number of infections, as the fifth wave of Covid-19 had started.
In addition to this, more than 2.2 million vaccines have been administered to children between the ages of 12 and 17 in KZN, where infections are high, and vaccine numbers remain low.
The provincial Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane recently dispelled some of the misconceptions and myths about the safety of vaccines, which are believed to be making many people hesitant to take the jab.
“We wish to assure all the people of this country that Covid-19 vaccines have undergone rigorous scientific testing, which has shown that they are, indeed, safe for use.
“They have undergone unprecedented scientific collaborations, which have allowed research, development, and authorisation to be completed in record time – to meet the urgent need for these vaccine, while maintaining high safety standards,” said Simelane.
IOL