South Africans over the age of 18 will from Friday be able to receive their Covid-19 vaccine.
South Africans over the age of 18 will from Friday be able to receive their Covid-19 vaccine.
Cabinet made the announcement in a statement on Thursday and revealed that the national vaccine roll-out will extend to citizens aged between 18 and 35 years.
“As part of the vaccination roll-out programme, Cabinet approved the vaccination of persons aged between 18 years and 35 years from August 20, 2021,” read the statement.
The roll-out to the age cohort was initially planned to start from the beginning of September.
Over 9.9 million vaccines have been administered in the country to date, with 7 million people partially vaccinated and over 4 million people fully vaccinated.
Cabinet also approved keeping the country under alert level 3 of the national lockdown, as advised by the Ministerial Advisory Committee.
“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.”
The announcement comes during a time when the country is battling to overcome the Covid-19 third wave and experts have said the rate of decline in cases has slowed.
Infectious disease expert and former chairperson of the government’s ministerial advisory committee on Covid-19, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, said the country could face a fourth wave of infections before the year ends
Karim said the fourth wave could hit around December 2 and last for over two and a half months.
Adults over the age of 18 can from Friday visit their nearest vaccination site with their identity document to be registered and vaccinated.
You can find your closest site from the more than 3 000 vaccination sites across the country at: www.sacoronavirus.co.za/active-vaccination-sites.
