Back in January, the archbishop pledged to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as soon as one became available to him.
ARCHBISHOP Emeritus Desmond Tutu has followed through on his pledge in January and was vaccinated in the Western Cape on Monday, where phase 2 of the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out had started.
At the start of the year in January, the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation had expressed its support for Covid-19 vaccines.
At the time the archbishop pledged to be vaccinated against the coronavirus as soon as one became available to him.
On Monday, as the Western Cape government began with its vaccine roll-out of the Pfizer jab, 89-year-old Tutu and his wife, Leah, were among the first in the province to get vaccinated at Brooklyn Chest Hospital.
Premier Alan Winde, who was at the hospital to join those who have registered for their vaccine in the Milnerton district, thanked Tutu for following through on his pledge.
“Thank you to our beloved Arch who is once again leading from the front.”
At the time of his pledge, Tutu said: “Vaccines have eradicated terrible diseases such as smallpox, and we are close to using them to make others, such as polio and measles, history.
“Yet many people are scared or wary of this simple, safe and effective way of protecting people against infectious diseases before they even come into contact with them. There is nothing to fear.”
Tutu said the more people who were vaccinated against Covid-19, the more everyone was protected against the disease.
“I am pledging to have a Covid-19 vaccine, because I already know what it is to lose years of your life to a disease. I also know what it is to worry that I have passed a preventable disease on to people I love. I ask you to do the same,” he said.
