Digital vaccine certificates could be reality before festive season - Phaahla
Health Minister Joe Phaahla says his department will present an implementation plan for the digital vaccine certificates to the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) within the next 10 days.
Phaahla briefed the media on government’s efforts to combat Covid-19 and the national vaccination rollout programme on Friday morning.
The minister was in the Free State to monitor the province`s Covid-19 vaccine rollout programme.
Phaahla reiterated government’s promise that the certificate is not meant to deny anyone access to essential services.
“We again want to repeat that vaccination has proven to seriously reduce the risk of serious illness, hospitalisation, ICU and even death.Through vaccination we can reclaim our social and economic lives by January 2022.
“We can protect each other enough to again enjoy sports and recreation in our numbers. Our various sports fans, soccer, rugby, cricket, netball etc can start to again to cheer their teams and heroes in numbers.
“That is why we talk about vaccine certificate or passport. The aim is not to punish anyone, but to know that we are protecting each other. Our team working on this will be ready to present the plan to the coronavirus command council in about 10 days time. Not having the certificate will not prevent people from accessing essential public services such as health, education, social services.
“The certificate will be used to access recreation, sports , arts and cultural activities in bigger numbers,” said Phaahla.
Phaahla says the private sector would be allowed to use the certificates to control access to businesses.
“I have heard people who want to rubbish this saying we are going to deny them essential services. No, that is not going to happen but some of the employers are already looking into this to make their policies. There might be salons that might say 'no vaccinations, no weaves', but it will not be because it is a government rule.”
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