Pretoria - The Gauteng provincial government says it is pleased and welcomes the active participation of the DSTV Premier League teams in the Covid-19 vaccination rollout programme.
From Monday, football players and technical team members for Mamelodi Sundowns and TS Galaxy football clubs will be vaccinated in the province.
Even though TS Galaxy is a Mpumalanga outfit, it will be vaccinated in Gauteng province as it is based there, according to Gauteng health spokesperson Kwara Kekana.
“The decision by the PSL football teams to take the Covid-19 vaccination publicly is significant and it is in line with return to play social mobilisation programme launched by government and social partners last week,” said Kekana.
“Vaccination will help us return to the things we love such as attending sporting, cultural, religious and entertainment events of our choice safely. Government is hopeful that having the teams vaccinated publicly will go a long way to convince persons who are still hesitant about taking the Covid-19 vaccine.”
The Gauteng provincial health department also appealed to residents to take the jab, as numerous community members were expressing hesitancy owing to misinformation and a plethora of conspiracies around the effects of the vaccine.
“We all need to vaccinate in order to take back our lives, return to a new reality and adjusting to a new normal,” she said.
Mamelodi Sundowns which claimed a convincing 2-0 DStv Premiership victory against archrivals Kaizer Chiefs at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Sunday will be vaccinated on Monday morning at their Chloorkop base.
TS Galaxy which salvaged a thrilling 2-2 draw against Golden Arrows on Saturday at the Mbombela Stadium through Sinethemba Mthobisi’s 88th-minute strike will on Monday be vaccinated at 1 pm in Benmore.
On Sunday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the easing of the Covid-19 lockdown regulations, amidst heightened vaccination programmes across the country.
“South Africa is fast becoming a vaccination site. Over a quarter of all adult South Africans have received at least one vaccine dose and more than 7 million people are fully vaccinated. In the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and the Western Cape, more than 1 in 5 adults is now fully vaccinated,” said Ramaphosa.
“The total number of vaccine doses administered in the country now stands at 14.6 million doses. We are now administering a million doses every 4 to 5 days. Government has secured sufficient vaccines to vaccinate the entire adult population, and the supply of vaccines is no longer a constraint.”
The government has observed that more women than men are coming forward to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
“Although the numbers are improving, men are still slow in coming forward to be vaccinated,” said Ramaphosa.
“The sooner we are all vaccinated, the sooner we can open up sports venues to spectators. The sooner we are all vaccinated the sooner we can welcome tourists to our beautiful country.”
IOL