Durban: This weekend, the KwaZulu Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane took her 15-year-old daughter to get her Covid-19 vaccine and encouraged parents to do the same.
Speaking from a vaccination site at the Royal Agricultural Showgrounds in Pietermaritzburg on Saturday, Simelane said since both her daughters – age 15 and 20 – were vaccinated, she was pleased to now have full license to urge other parents to get their offspring vaccinated.
This forms part of the province’s efforts to boost vaccination numbers, particularly within the 12-17 and 35-49 age groups.
A total of 8 578 in the 12-17 age category have been vaccinated out of the 23 351 who have so far registered.
“My daughter is actually the one who asked to come and get vaccinated. I must say I was very excited because it tells me that she has a sense of responsibility.
“However, we are requesting all other parents to make sure that they bring their children to get vaccinated. It is important that everyone from the age of 12 gets vaccinated.
“It is important that we bring them forward because it protects their families and other learners that they go to school with. Remember that in the past few months, we’ve had to close schools because of the number of infections we’ve had. That is why we’re making this call.”
Simelanae expressed her disquiet about the apparent vaccine hesitancy among the 35-49 age group.
The Department said only 446 534 had been vaccinated out of the 713 477 who have registered in this age category.
“The fact that people from the 35-49 age group are not coming out in numbers is a serious worry because they’re one of the largest population groups in KZN.
“So, if they don’t get vaccinated, it means we’re not going to achieve population immunity before the end of December. That might affect us adversely come the fourth wave.
“And yet, we might look back and see that had we all been vaccinated, it might not have affected us that much. We’re making a call for everyone to come and get vaccinated because once you get vaccinated, it means we’ll gradually go back to our lives.
“It means we’ll be able to attend live sporting matches and get back to our normal lives as we used to know them.
“But, for as long as people are not vaccinating, the country will not be able to open up fully.”
IOL