SOUTH African women account for 60% of the total population who have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and the National Department of Health has appealed to men to register for the vaccine.
Department of Health deputy director-general Dr Nicholas Crisp said during an online media briefing today, that they are observing the sex and age group distribution of vaccinations closely.
“The men are not being vaccinated in the numbers as the women in all age groups. We are seeing 60% of the people vaccinated at the moment are female and 40% are male and I want to appeal to the men that this is not good. This means that men are going to end up very sick in hospital and we don't want that to happen just prior to Christmas,” he said.
Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla said that the country reached a landmark yesterday of administering over 9 million vaccine doses since the start of the roll-out. Due to the Pfizer two-dose series there are close to 4 million fully vaccinated individuals.
Daily Covid-19 vaccine registrations have seen a drop, said Crisp, as yesterday the country saw a mere 53 000 registrations.
“The slowing down of vaccinations on a daily basis is something that we really need to pick up if we are going to protect ourselves and keep people out of hospital.”
Crisp said there will be undoubtedly a fourth wave in the country, however, the best way to provide protection is by vaccinating.
While the country is seeing an increase in vaccination rates there is room for improvement.
In the age cohort of 35 – 40, there have been 3 million people vaccinated, however there are 12 million people in this age group.
“We have a target of vaccinating 70% of the adult population by the end of the year. We have a population of around 40 million people and so far we have vaccinated 7.2 million people which means we need to have vaccinated 28 million people by the end of this year if we are to get to that level of protection,” Crisp said.
[Watch Live] Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla and Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo brief the media on #COVID19 #VaccineRolloutSA plan https://t.co/fBMgIUPK8F