Concern about millions of unvaccinated people in Gauteng

Gauteng premier David Makhura has expressed concern that about 8-million people in the province have not yet been vaccinated against Covid-19.

More than 4-million people have been vaccinated, while Stats SA figures show the province has a population of more than 15-million people.

“Unvaccinated people are a problem for all of us, so finding them and vaccinating will be the right thing to do,” Makhura said on Thursday in an update on the government's response a day after the province recorded more than 6,000 new infections.

“We want to persuade more people to take responsibility for their health by getting vaccinated. Once we have tried all options we will consider mandatory vaccinations,” he said.

Provincial statistics show that more women (54%) are vaccinated than men (46%). 

Gauteng would focus on school pupils and continue its drive to encourage young people to get vaccinated.

Once schools closed for the holidays, they would be used as vaccination sites to accelerate the programme.

Gauteng public health and vaccination co-ordinator Dr Adiel Chikobvu said 4.5-million people had received one dose of either the J&J or Pfizer vaccine and 3.7-million people were fully vaccinated.

“The province is gaining momentum and numbers are looking good. If we maintain that momentum I’m confident to say we are getting somewhere.”

According to provincial statistics, 19,698 Covid-19-related deaths were recorded between March 5 2020 and December 1 2021. Most of these were in the 60 to 69 age category.

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