From 1st September, government confirmed that those aged 18 to 34 could start to receive vaccines for COVID-19 in South Africa. With the other age brackets proving lax in terms of heading to vaccination sites to receive their jabs, it looks like all adults could get vaccines earlier than expected.
This as Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, spoke to 702 earlier in the week, noting that his department was in discussions with decision makers over bringing the 1st September date forward.
“We are in further consultations with our leadership in Cabinet, we will probably before the end of this week open for all adults above 18,” he said during a radio interview.
While that is indeed good news for those who have not yet qualified to receive vaccines, but are eager to to do so, another concerning aspect of the rollout is the fact that turnout is steadily declining in recent weeks.
“The turnout has been reducing and that is worrying. The momentum of the fake news, the anti-vax campaign is also gaining some momentum, especially on social media. We have to cope up with social media at the same time,” he told the station.
We hope that this will not be the case when the 18 to 34 age group can start receive vaccines.
Looking at the latest report on COVID-19 in South Africa from the National Department of Health (NDoH), 7 983 new cases have been recorded in the past 24 hours, pushing the total number of infections to date to 2 613 569. Added to this is 299 new fatalities, as the death toll related to the virus climbs to 77 440.
As for the vaccine rollout, 158 103 vaccines have been administered in the past 24 hours, supporting Phaahla’s concerns. As of 17:00 on 16th August, 9 557 542 vaccines have been administered in total, while an estimated 4 197 442 people are inoculated.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
| Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
| Western Cape | 446 749 | 391 543 | 38 428 | 16 778 |
| Eastern Cape | 244 410 | 221 470 | 9 742 | 13 198 |
| Northern Cape | 73 370 | 65 482 | 6 029 | 1 859 |
| Free State | 137 431 | 117 923 | 13 466 | 6 042 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 432 744 | 374 333 | 45 789 | 12 622 |
| North West | 136 531 | 114 439 | 18 771 | 3 321 |
| Mpumalanga | 136 037 | 129 110 | 5 145 | 1 782 |
| Gauteng | 889 777 | 858 722 | 12 890 | 18 165 |
| Limpopo | 116 520 | 109 787 | 3 060 | 3 673 |
| Unknown | 0 | |||
| TOTAL | 2 613 569 | 2 382 809 | 153 320 | 77 440 |
As always, in order to stay up to date with the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa and abroad, we advise the following materials and platforms:
- COVID-19 Connect on WhatsApp – add 0600 123 456 as a contact and say “Hi”.
- World Health Organisation
- SA Coronavirus website
- SA Government
- SA Presidency
[Image – Photo by Daniel Schludi on Unsplash]
