Covid-19: Tshwane youths boost vaccine uptake
“Thus far, more than half a million residents have been vaccinated, with more women getting jabs than men.”
The vaccination of Tshwane’s largest age group, namely people aged between 18 and 34, kicked off at a fast pace this week, boosting the vaccine roll-out programme.
There were 1.2 million people in this age group in Tshwane.
Recently, Tshwane health MCC Sakkie du Plooy raised worries about the waning number of elderly people lining up for their vaccine shots.
But this week he noted a fast uptake by young adults aged 18 years and older in the region.
“Thus far, more than half a million residents have been vaccinated, with more women getting jabs than men,” du Plooy said.
Vaccination for the age group opened on August 20.
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He said the metro’s vaccination drive was expanded frequently.
In addition to the 43 public vaccination sites, they were implementing strategies to take vaccinations to the communities.
This included establishing pop-up sites at taxi ranks, reaching out to religious and faith-based organisations and establishing ward-based vaccination sites.
Earlier this week, the metro had a pop-up vaccine site at the Bosman taxi rank to vaccinate public transport sector staff.
The national department on August 24 launched a free public transport pilot project for persons aged 50 years and above to ramp up vaccinations in the age group.
In Tshwane, this was one of the lowest vaccinated groups. Last week only 13% of 312 229 people in this age group were vaccinated.
Du Plooy said the Gauteng health department arranged free transport that would be provided from identified pick-up points in Mooiplaats and Olievenhoutbosch to the Momentum Doringkloof vaccination site from August 24 to September 7.
“This will provide vaccination access to people without transport. People can call 0800 029 999 for more details. It is also important to note that all adults aged 18 and upwards can now be vaccinated. This applies to South African citizens as well as documented foreign nationals in the country,” he said.
Breakdown of Tshwane age group vaccination targets:
Health workers: 77 627
Aged 60 and over: 316 487
Aged 50-59: 312 229
Aged 35-49: 810 458
Aged persons 18-34: 1 205 707
“To be vaccinated, residents need to register on the electronic vaccination data system and bring their identification details to any of the vaccination sites in Tshwane. It is no longer necessary to wait for an appointment. Documents containing your South African identity number, foreign passport number or your refugee or asylum seeker number will be sufficient for identification purposes (your birth certificate is also acceptable).”
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