Health Department worried about waning number of Covid-19 jabs

Less people are also pitching for inoculations. 

 The department’s Nicolas Crisp said some 50 000 people registered on Thursday  - a number which he described as a “poor show”. 

“We are disappointed that registrations are decreasing and one must remember that registrations are done both pre-vaccination and people who arrive for walk-ins are registered on sight.  So this figure is everyone who gets registered, the daily registration yesterday was at 53 000, which is really a poor show if we think how many people still need to get vaccinated.” 

The department wants to jab at least 28 million people by Christmas.

However, only nine million people have thus far been jabbed, while only four million people have been fully vaccinated. 

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Furthermore, vaccinations for eligible age groups are also declining, falling far behind the department’s targets. 

“We have seen 3 million people in the 35 -49 year old category but there are 12 million people in the country in this age group so that is really not enough. And in the 50 -59 year old category, we have seen 1.9m registrations so far but then there are 4.5 million in that category,” said Crisp 

“We have lost impetus in the vaccination programme in Gauteng, Western Cape and all the other provinces. Every province has lost momentum. This slowing down and drop off of vaccinations is something that we really need to pick up if we are going to protect ourselves and keep people out of hospital.”