The South African government announced on Thursday that it had started issuing Covid-19 vaccination certificates to the more than 10 million adults who have so far been fully vaccinated against the virus.
According to the Ministry of Health, this was made possible following a vaccine certificate system portal which Health Minister Joe Phaahla launched last week to be available to South Africans.
The system allows users to create a code showing their Covid-19 inoculation status and would be available to only adults who were fully vaccinated.
South Africa now has 35% of fully vaccinated adults, which translates to 10,370,743 people who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine and the double-dose Pfizer vaccine.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in September the rollout of the vaccine certificate as proof that residents had been vaccinated against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The digital pass system would be used to show vaccination status to facilitate travel, access to establishments, gatherings and other forms of activity, the president said.
He explained that the government’s approach was informed by the World Health Organisation guidelines in line with international best practices.
Ramaphosa said the certificates could go a long way towards getting a number of international travel restrictions, both from and into the country, eased.
NM/jn/APA