Health minister, Dr. Joe Phaahla, said that the government plans to open Covid-19 vaccines to all adults in South Africa weeks earlier than expected.
Vaccinations for people between the ages of 18-35 are set to officially open on 1 September, however Dr. Phaahla said that his department is in consultations to move this date up to the end of this week.
“We are in further consultations with our leadership in cabinet, (and) we will probably before the end of this week open for all adults above 18,” he told 702. “If not this week, then not later than next Monday (23 August) for all adults.”
Dr. Phaahla added that his department would not recommend relaxing the country’s lockdown restrictions due to the high number of Covid-19 cases. He said that the pressure on hospitals should ease if the average number of infection cases falls below 10 000 a day with a positivity rate of around 10% in the next week or two. He added that the Covid-19 numbers do not support the relaxation of restrictions this week.
On Sunday (15 August) South Africa reported 10 139 new Covid-19 cases, which took the total reported to 2 605 586.
Deaths have reached 77,141, while recoveries have climbed to 2,375,633, leaving the country with a balance of 152,812 active cases. The total number of vaccines administered is 9,387,129.
Sources: BusinessTech
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