Newly-appointed Health Minister Joe Phaahla on Friday said his office would start administering one million coronavirus vaccines on South Africans every three days.
Phaahla said this when he briefed the media on the ministry’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic on Friday.
“We are rolling out more and more sites, including small towns and rural areas,” the minister said.
He added: “We also have small pharmacists as places where you can vaccinate. It’s not only the big ones — Clicks and Dischems — but the independent pharmacists as well.”
Phaahla said that he was pleased that government had so far been able to vaccinate over 8.3 million people in the country.
With the help of private pharmacies, government was working towards administering a million shots every three days, he added.
Phaahla said they were vaccinating 200,000 people per day before and this would be raised to one million every three days.
The minister was appointed on Thursday, replacing Zweli Mkhize who was suspended following a financial scandal involving the irregular awarding of a contract to a company linked to some senior officials in the health ministry.
NM/jn/APA