Durban: The Department of Health said over 500 000 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 were fully inoculated against Covid-19 by Wednesday afternoon.
As a fourth wave looms and the discovery of the Omicron variant, it seems more children are opting to vaccinate.
Many pupils have also ended their final exams.
The country recorded 8561 new positive cases, with the majority recorded in Gauteng in the past 24 hours.
On Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa appealed for people to get vaccinated, and 165 775 people came forward to get their first dose on Wednesday.
A total of 510 255 teenagers have received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
Vaccines for this age category opened on October 20.
At the time, the Ministerial Advisory Committee recommended that the 12 to 17 age group should be given only one dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
Health Minister Joe Phaahla said: “At this stage, there’s been no indication that the first dose has any serious side effects, So, for now, it will be just one, but we believe it will still offer significant protection and, once more information comes, we will offer the second dose. The timing of the second dose will be informed by further information.”
In addition, almost 14,4 million adults (18 and over) out of 39,8 million were fully inoculated.
SA death toll since the start of the pandemic is 89 871.
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