Pretoria - Churches and religious leaders have a crucial role in helping the country to achieve its goal of reaching herd immunity and stemming the tide of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Moreleta Gemeente's efforts in collaboration with the National Department of Health and community volunteers saw the church reaching 15 000 vaccinations earlier today.
Pieter Breytenbach, CEO of the church, said although they experienced a few hiccups with getting the system running in the beginning after the first few days they had managed to sort out all the teething problems and it had been smooth sailing since.
Breytenbach said they were receiving great feedback from people who were happy with the service received and the efficiency of staff and volunteers present.
He said even though the turnout was not as massive as the first day when they were seeing roughly 500 people daily, they were still witnessing a steady number of people coming through especially since the 18 to 34 age group was included in the programme.
Petros Mokhabukhi became the 15 000 person vaccinated at the Moreleta Gemeente vaccination site today. #vaccine #VaccineRolloutSA @moreletakerk pic.twitter.com/t9rlCH8Crn
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"For us, the biggest thing is to participate and take hands with the department and the community itself. Our goal has always been to be of help to the community because we realise we can't do it alone."
"The biggest reward for us is to know that even though it may be small in comparison to the work that still needs to be done overall but at least we participated in assisting in some way rather than sitting by the wayside."
Breytenbach said given that they knew that some people had religious concerns about getting vaccinated against the coronavirus, it was important for church leaders to stand up and take a stand in what is to help everyone.
"This whole fight against the virus is not a once-off thing, and it's not a certain group that has been affected it's all of us hence the need for church leaders to come forward and encourage people to vaccinate."
Petros Mokhabukhi, 58, said he had been encouraged to come after hearing messages on the local radio station even though he was initially fearful of getting vaccinated.
"I was afraid of getting vaccinated but what has kept me brave and willing to come here for this thing are my constant prayers. I urge others to come so we can all be safe."
Pretoria News