Engineering News reports that according to Business Leadership SA (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso, there was much that business was already doing to encourage uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine, but more needed to be done.

In her weekly newsletter, the head of the business organisation encouraged employers to support their employees to become vaccinated. Mavuso noted: “We have now delivered over 20-million vaccine doses, with 10.5-million people fully vaccinated. Opening vaccinations to over-12s later this month will add momentum for a while. But it is clear that take-up rates are slowing. We have 27% of our adult population fully vaccinated, including 53% of those over 60, but need to reach 60% to 70% to minimise the impact of the virus.” She pointed out that the country’s challenge had shifted from one of securing enough vaccine supply to one of reaching enough recipients, while overcoming vaccine hesitancy. Mavuso cited emerging evidence that people who received the first Pfizer jab were not returning for the second, with the Gauteng province recently reporting that a million people had not turned up for their second vaccinations. “The involvement of organised business in the vaccine campaign is primarily about doing what we can to save lives. But it is also about protecting livelihoods, ensuring that normal economic activity can resume and people can work to feed themselves and their families. Now we must focus on driving vaccination rates. Business as employers can play a crucial role,” Mavuso emphasised.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News

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