Covid-19: Low vaccine demand could take rollout programme off target
The health department has set the target of fully vaccinating 70% of the adult population to December. But with only around 10% currently fully vaccinated, the department has a hard slog ahead of it, especially in the face of decreasing vaccine demand.
During a digital briefing on Friday, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said the government's goal is to vaccinate at least 70% of the population by December.
The country has already administered more than nine million vaccine doses, with 3 956 279 people fully vaccinated as of Thursday.
The department expected that more than four million people would be fully vaccinated by the end of Friday, Phaahla said.
However, these numbers mean that only around 10% of the 39-million adult population is fully vaccinated. Around 28-million adults will need to be vaccinated for the country to reach its target.
In addition, uptake appeared to be slowing down, said Health Deputy Director-General Nicholas Crisp.
He said registration for the vaccines was decreasing, with only 53 000 people registering on Thursday.
Low registration numbers could leave South Africa with a lack of demand over the next two weeks, at a time when vaccine stocks are higher than ever.
In the last few weeks, the country took delivery of more than 10-million doses.
Another 10-million doses are expected to arrive by the end of August. The project supply for the fourth quarter is at 28-million, Crisp said.
The number of vaccine doses administered daily was gradually slowing down, Crisp added.
This is concerning because vaccines offer the best protection against a fourth wave of Covid-19. "There will be a fourth wave. We have no doubt. We don't know when or what variant. We need to protect ourselves by vaccinating," Crisp said.
Registration for those 18 and older will open on 1 September. Those in the older age groups, especially those 60 and older, have been urged to vaccinate before this date.
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