As South Africa races against the clock to get as many eligible people as possible vaccinated against Covid-19, the youth have come out in their numbers following the opening of registration for those aged 18 to 35.
Montford siblings, 18-year-old Ilesh and 20-year-old Ishika Phagwathipersad, were among those who seized the opportunity and were excited to get their dose of the Johnson & Johnson jab on Monday, 23 August, at the Nelson Mandela Youth Centre. “The procedure was a lot faster than we thought it would be and we urge more people to come through and get their Covid-19 vaccine done. It hurts as much as a pinch but it is definitely worth it in the long run! We would like to thank the youth centre for giving us a fast and great experience while we become a part of history,” the siblings said. SA’s Covid-19 vaccination programme is expected to increase drastically following cabinet’s approval for the vaccination of people aged between 18 and 35 years old from last Friday, 20 August. Cabinet said it had received a report from the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) indicating that over nine million vaccines have been administered in SA to date, with over seven million people partially vaccinated and over four million fully vaccinated.
“Cabinet welcomed the vaccination roll-out plan to increase the uptake of vaccines, particularly in provinces that had shown a reduction in the uptake of vaccines. As part of increasing the vaccination roll-out programme, Cabinet approved the vaccination of persons aged between 18 and 35 years from 20 August 2021,” they said. They have urged people to dispel unfounded and misleading conspiracy theories about the vaccines and choose life by vaccinating. “Scientific evidence confirms that vaccinated people stand a better chance of surviving from Covid-19 than unvaccinated people. Cabinet encourages all unvaccinated people in South Africa to get vaccinated because vaccines protect us from getting seriously ill from the virus and they save lives,” they said.
Cabinet said the process to get vaccinated is easy. “Simply visit your nearest vaccination site with your identity document to be registered and vaccinated. You can find your closest site from the more than 3 000 vaccination sites across the country on the SA Coronavirus website.” According to 19-year-old Talisha Pillay, this decision is welcomed with open arms. She said: “Since the start of the vaccination programme, I have been eagerly awaiting my turn. I believe that as the younger generation of our rainbow nation, we should play an active part in obtaining herd immunity through vaccines. We are going to go down in history as the generation that took a chance to save lives so I encourage everyone who is able to take the vaccine to do so as soon as possible.”
