Vaccination

A South African health worker holds a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at the Khayelitsha Hospital in Cape Town on 17 February 2021. Photo: AFP/GIANLUIGI GUERCIA

You love to see it: SA smashes its daily vaccination record!

Now THIS is a proper vaccination drive: The daily record for the number of jabs received by SA citizens has been shattered this week.

Vaccination

A South African health worker holds a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at the Khayelitsha Hospital in Cape Town on 17 February 2021. Photo: AFP/GIANLUIGI GUERCIA

Go on, guys! South Africa didn’t just hit a significant milestone on Monday… we absolutely smashed through it instead. For the first time since our vaccination rollout began in 2021, more than 200 000 people received a jab on a single day.

How many people have had a vaccination in South Africa?

The vaccine programme has been ramped up dramatically this month, with registrations opening to those aged 35 to 49. The deployment of walk-in vaccination centres has also proved to be a masterstroke. While the going is good, more people are getting themselves the most basic layer of protection against COVID-19, and the eagerness is showing.

A whopping 223 969 vaccines were administered in Mzansi over the last 24 hour period. This is a number that outperforms the UK, one of THE success stories of the vaccine drive this year. This new daily record sets a significant benchmark, as President Ramaphosa and his government aim to drive the figure up to 300 000 inoculations per day.

Vaccination race: Who is in the lead?

After bearing the brunt of the gruesome third wave, Gauteng is now leading the way for vaccinations. Just shy of 59 000 people were jabbed in the province on Monday – accounting for more than a quarter of all shots nationwide. Impressively, 25 597 of these vaccines were administered as second doses, granting recipients ‘full virus immunity’.

The Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape all recorded over 30 000 daily jabs themselves, too. As it stands, more than 5.3 million vaccines have been dished out, as Pfizer supplies continue to roll into SA. However, there’s one rather humbling stat that should remind us to keep our feet on the ground…

Keep this energy, Mzansi!

Only 1.789 million South Africans have received that all-important second vaccination, meaning that only 4.46% of the adult population is actually at the peak of their COVID-19 protection. Days like Monday are obviously a step in the right direction, but there are many more to take between now and any possible future that’s free of lockdown restrictions.