IN a bid to increase South Africa’s vaccination roll-out programme, registrations for everyone 18 years and older started earlier than the initial September 1 roll-out plan.
The move is to boost the country’s vaccinated population numbers.
South Africa’s Covid-19 vaccination drive was initially criticised for lagging behind. An added challenge has been that many people are still choosing not to vaccinate.
In a statement following a virtual Cabinet meeting government said over 9 million vaccines have been administered in South Africa, with over 7 million people partially vaccinated and over 4 million fully vaccinated.
“Scientific evidence confirms that vaccinated people stand a better chance of surviving from Covid-19 than unvaccinated people. Therefore, we must all dispel the unfounded and misleading conspiracy theories about the vaccines and choose life by vaccinating,” said the statement.
Why vaccinate?
As the Delta variant continues to see cases of the virus spike the world over; health authorities, scientists and governments have advocated to create awareness to dispel myths around Covid-19 vaccinations.
Here at home, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), posts regular updates on its social media platforms, including: “Many people in South Africa are not yet vaccinated or have not yet received the full vaccination course. And so, people remain susceptible to infection and they may remain susceptible to severe disease and death..
“Not only does vaccination help prevent infection and illness from the Delta variant and others out there, but vaccination also helps to keep new and potentially more dangerous variants from developing,” said the NICD.
Are vaccines effective?
The World Health Organization (WHO) posts regular video updates on its platforms under the banner “Science in 5”.
In a recent clip Dr Kate O’Brien, a Canadian-American paediatric infectious disease physician, epidemiologist and vaccinologist , and WHO scientist, answered questions around vaccine efficacy, especially on breakthrough infections – where people could still get Covid-19, even when they are fully vaccinated.
O’Brien said: “The vaccines that we have are incredibly effective vaccines … anywhere in the 80% to 90% range of efficacy. But that doesn't mean that 100% of people, 100% of the time are going to be protected against disease. There is no vaccine that provides that level of protection for any disease. So we do expect, in any vaccine programme, that there will be cases of disease among people who were fully vaccinated and certainly among some people who were partially vaccinated.
“That doesn't mean that the vaccines are not working ... They are preventing people from getting disease at all, and even when disease does occur among people who are fully vaccinated, the severity is less … People who are at increased risk of disease – people with frail immune systems, in older age groups – they have a greater risk of having breakthrough disease than other people.”
She said they were also seeing more cases of breakthrough disease in part because people were stopping the other interventions that reduce the transmission of the virus – like social distancing, mask-wearing and washing/sanitising hands.
O’Brien said vaccines also reduced the transmission of the infection of the virus from one person to the next.
“The way the vaccines do that is in a number of different ways. The first is they can protect you against getting infected at all. The second is that if you become infected, you’re actually shedding that virus for a shorter period than if you weren't vaccinated. And the third is, if you happen to get infected, the amount of virus that you have in your nose, at the back of your throat, that you are potentially sharing to someone else, is less. There's less density of the virus in you and so less risk that you transmit it to somebody else.”
The WHO said whether you are vaccinated or are still waiting, keep following precautions to protect yourself and others: avoid crowds, keep a physical distance, wear a mask, open windows, clean your hands.
Vaccine equity
In recent weeks, discussions around vaccine equity have been a talking point as more privileged nations are accused of vaccine stockpiling, while poorer nations are lagging behind.
A number of countries, such as the US, UK, France, Germany and Indonesia, have either already administered a third booster shot, of the vaccine, or have plans to do so.
In a recent address, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said the global failure to share vaccines equitably was fuelling a two-track Covid-19 pandemic and taking a toll on some of the world's poorest and most vulnerable people.
“Vaccines donated next year will be far too late for those dying today, being infected today, or at risk today. Our global targets are to vaccinate at least 10% of the population of every country by September, at least 40% by the end of the year, and 70% by the middle of next year. These are the critical milestones we must reach together to end the pandemic.”
* Visit your nearest vaccination site with your identity document to be registered and vaccinated. You can find your closest site here.