South Africa has secured 20 million doses for its coronavirus vaccination exercise and would strive to reach a “herd immunity” by vaccinating 40 million people or 67 percent of its population against the pandemic, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced.
Ramaphosa said this in a nationwide broadcast Monday evening to update his compatriots on his government’s progress in the fight against the deadly disease which has claimed 33,000 people since March 2020.
To achieve the “herd or population immunity”, the president said the government would deploy a comprehensive vaccination strategy aimed at reaching all parts of the country.
To achieve this, he said Pretoria would rely on the World Health Organisation’s COVAX programme to secure the vaccines, the African Union’s vaccine initiative, and through direct engagement with vaccine manufacturers.
In this regard, he said his government’s Covid-19 Task Force was in talks with six vaccine manufacturers to secure the needed doses for the “herd immunity” target.
The president described the forthcoming vaccination exercise — officially set for April but could take place as early as late January — as the “largest and most complex logistical undertaking in our country’s history,” surpassing even the election exercise or HIV/Aids treatment undertakings of the past.
“It will be far more extensive than our HIV treatment programme, or even our national, provincial and local elections, in terms of the number of people who have to be reached within a short space of time,” Ramaphosa said.
The task would require the active involvement of all spheres of government, all sectors of society and all citizens and residents of the country, he added.
Currently experiencing its second wave of infections made worse by a more transmissible virus variant, the country has so far recorded over 1.2 million Covid-19 infections and 33,000 related deaths.
Meanwhile, the country has locked down all its land borders as part of the beefed up restrictions against the pandemic until mid-February.
NM/as/APA