This is sweet music to the ears of Mpumalanga MEC for health, Sasekani Manzini, who said vaccination numbers were encouraging.

“So far, we have vaccinated 859 128 people in the province. The numbers look impressive, because we are edging closer to one million by the end of the year. We are very happy and encouraged by the number of people that are heeding to the call and getting vaccinated. It shows that the more we talk about this vaccine, the more our people are becoming aware of it,” said Manzini, who visited Huntington in the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality, as part of her monitoring programme on Friday.

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During her visit to the area, Manzini witnessed over 200 people braving the scorching sun to be vaccinated.

“Yes, in as much as we are happy with the number of people getting vaccinated, we need to do more and get more coming to be vaccinated. It is encouraging that men are also coming to be vaccinated as compared to the early days of the roll-out. We need men to lead the vaccination campaign,” added Manzini.

With the festive season quickly approaching, Manzini stressed the importance of more people being vaccinated.

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“Since we border the Kingdom of eSwatini and Mozambique, and provinces such as Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, we expect an influx of people coming to our shores. And it is wise that they find us fully vaccinated so we are all safe from the virus.

“But above everything else, if we want to have a decent and joyous festive season, we need to vaccinate. Remember that last year we had to spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve at home. Let us help our president by vaccinating so that he doesn’t have to close down the country,” said Manzini.