The sporting fraternity has promised to pull out all the stops, including giving away free tickets to sporting and entertainment events, to boost SA’s vaccination rollout.
“The virus is real and deadly. We cannot wait for it to slow down; it can get worse before it gets better. We have to stop it, and the only avenue we have not fully exploited is vaccines,” said sports, arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa on Wednesday.
Speaking at the launch of the vaccination social mobilisation campaign - dubbed “Return to play — It’s in your hands” - at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, Mthethwa said vaccinated fans would be prioritised at games and performances.
He said that the greater the population of vaccinated citizens, the sooner the economy can be reopened. This means the country must
“maximise the population of the vaccinated”.
Mthethwa, who received his second Pfizer jab during the event, encouraged iconic artists, creatives and sportspersons to assist government to spread the message.
SA Football Association president Danny Jordaan said: “It is clear that if you are unvaccinated, you cannot come to the stadium. We want you to come to the stadium, we don’t want you to go to the hospital.
“We are going to meet Bafana Bafana and, depending on our agreement with the minister and how many fans we have in the match against Ethiopia, we are going to give 50% of the tickets to these fans for free, provided that you prove that you have been vaccinated.”
Bafana Bafana are scheduled to play against Ethiopia on October 10 in a World Cup qualifier, at a venue that has not yet been determined.
As vaccination numbers begin to dwindle, the government has been forced to think out of the box, such as offering incentives to take the jab. The national vaccination rollout is now open to all citizens who are 18 years and older, with government working on a vaccine for young adults and children.
Deputy president David Mabuza said on Wednesday that the vaccination social mobilisation campaign was a call to action to all South Africans to get vaccinated.
“If we are to revive our vibrant creative industries, return to theatres and stadiums to play and enjoy sport and entertainment, it is important that our vaccination programme is accelerated to reach as many people as possible,” said Mabuza, who is the government’s leader of the interministerial task team on vaccines.
We want to attend full stadiums, concerts and theatres. We also want to return to churches, and we can only do so if we vaccinate more people. The vaccination will give us that human touch.
— Gauteng premier David Makhura
He added that, to eliminate vaccine hesitancy and save lives, there was a need to dispel myths and the spread of fake and untrue conspiracy theories about vaccines.
He said more than 83,000 people have died and 2.8-million have been infected with the virus since March 2020.
“More than 13-million vaccine doses have been administered to more than 10-million South Africans, and more than 6-million South Africans are now fully vaccinated. Of course, we still have a long way to go to reach 40-million people to reach population immunity.”
Gauteng premier David Makhura, said he was pleased to hear that the national coronavirus command council (NCCC) on Tuesday declared that the province was officially out of the third wave.
“But being out of the third wave does not mean that we must not be careful; it means we must vaccinate more people if we want to return to some sense of normality and open more sporting and cultural events.
“We want to attend full stadiums, concerts and theatres. We also want to return to churches, and we can only do so if we vaccinate more people. The vaccination will give us that human touch. We want to attend our games, concerts, weddings, also funerals. All of that safely,” he said.
He said citizens should aim to be vaccinated by the time SA hits a fourth wave.
Business For SA’s (B4SA) Stavros Nicolaou added that during the first and second waves 43 doctors and nurses died, while none have perished in the third wave because they had been vaccinated.
“Our government set a target to vaccinate 38-million citizens by December 31. We are sitting at 14-million people with a single dose, and how many people we vaccinate between then and now will determine whether we have a good or a bad Christmas.”
Deputy health minister Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said that in the last 24 hours SA had administered 202,637 vaccines, and this has pushed the overall vaccination number to 13.9-million since the beginning of vaccination rollout programme.
“A total number of 10.2-million of the adult population, out of a target of 39.8-million, have received at least one dose of vaccine, and this translates into 25.69% of population in this age group,” said Dhlomo.
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