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TimesLIVE reports that the national Department of Health on Tuesday conceded that its Covid-19 vaccination programme had lost momentum due to vaccine hesitancy.
Newly appointed deputy minister of health Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said: “The president made a pronouncement a few weeks ago that he would want to see us vaccinating up to 300,000 South Africans per day. We were excited when we were sitting at about 275,000 on July 21, but we are now down to about 175,000 vaccinations per day. That is a red light that tells you something should be happening that is not happening.” Dhlomo, who is former chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee on health, said initially the country struggled to secure vaccine supplies, but now the department was grappling with vaccine hesitancy. In its presentation to the National Council of Provinces’ (NCOP) select committee on health and social services, the department painted a bleak picture of how it was struggling to use all the vaccines the country has secured. Providing a snapshot of the vaccine rollout programme, the department’s deputy director-general Dr Nicholas Crisp said: “The biggest challenge is no longer the vaccine nor our capacity because we have more than 3,000 sites on any day. The biggest challenge is driving demand and getting the public past the point where we are now.” Trying to understand vaccine hesitancy, Crisp said what people thought and felt about the vaccine was very important.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Amanda Khoza at SowetanLive
- Read too, Phaahla accuses men of slacking with Covid-19 jab, on page 6 of Sowetan of 17 August 2021
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page