Pretoria - Young people in Tshwane have been commended for championing the Covid-19 vaccination drive and making it their own.
According to MMC for Health Sakkie du Plooy, the City of Tshwane was still struggling to convince older people to vaccinate, but the youth have continued to heed the call to get their jabs without hesitation.
Du Plooy said they were delighted by initiatives by young people to encourage others to get vaccinated.
He made a special mention of a hip hop song released by the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Health Sciences, titled #Vaccinate.
He said that in Tshwane, of the 60+ age group, they vaccinated 142 657 people, which represented 45.7% of the population.
The City reached 69 139 people in the 50 to 59 age group, about 22%.
Du Plooy said the target population for the younger group was 1.2 million, and they needed to have 2.498 million people vaccinated in Tshwane to reach herd immunity.
He stressed that despite officials pushing for more people to get vaccinated for the country to achieve this objective, vaccination would not prevent people being infected.
What the vaccination would ensure, however, was a reduction in the severity of the infection and a decrease in the chances of dying due to Covid-19- related complications, he said.
Since August 20, Du Plooy said, 1 873 people aged 19 had been vaccinated, 26 050 aged 20 to 29, and 83 399 aged 30 to 39.
From the 40 to 49 age group, he said 122 873 had got their jabs.
He said that despite organising an event for members and representatives of the religious community to get information and have their questions and concerns regarding the vaccine addressed, few had come forward.
“We are disappointed with the low turnout over the weekend.
“We will be pushing for more meetings with the clergy as we believe there are still many people who are not getting the jab for religious reasons.
“We hope if they have the facts. and if it comes from their own leaders who had all their concerns addressed, it should help them rethink their stance on vaccination,” added Du Plooy.
He said they would resume “pushing older groups to come forward”.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority added its voice regarding the safety of the vaccines.
“We will not compromise on the safety of South Africans,” it said.
Pretoria News