Get your free Covid-19 jab on Vooma Vaccination Weekend

As part of efforts to ramp-up vaccinations ahead of the festive season, President Cyril Ramaphosa has written to a wide range of leaders in government, labour, faith-based organisations, the National House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders, business and civil society partners inviting them to support the upcoming Covid-19 Vooma Vaccination Weekend from 12 to 14 November.

They have been requested to participate in local events and community outreaches and to promote awareness of vaccination sites in every district.  

This is aimed at galvanising massive country-wide support for the vaccination programme against Covid-19.  It comes at a time when the rate of new Covid-19 infection are low in South Africa, but where the fourth wave is expected to hit the country in early 2022.

While the country is unlikely to avert the 4th wave, a higher vaccination rate over the next month could substantially reduce its impact, especially if coverage among people aged 50 and older could be accelerated. To date, over 80% of confirmed Covid-19 deaths have been in this age group.

“Three out of five people aged 50 and older have now had at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine” Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla said. 

Covid-19 vaccine will help crush the power of fourth wave

“If we can get close to five out of five people in this age group vaccinated by the end of the year, we will crush the power of the fourth wave by substantially reducing the number of hospital admissions and deaths.”

The first Covid-19 Vooma Vaccination Weekend led to an unprecedented level of engagement across many districts. It achieved 75% of its target of 500,000 vaccinations over the three-day period, and the government hopes to achieve 100% of that target in the next Vooma Weekend.  

Vaccination sites will be open across the country during Vooma weekend, and the goal is to ensure at least 95% capacity on  Saturday 13 November.  

While fewer sites will open on Sunday, the focus will be on an outreach to large faith-based congregations that are willing to allow members to be vaccinated on that day.

“As we prepare to express our appreciation to health professionals who have worked tirelessly to vaccinate South Africans, we would also like to thank almost 16 million South Africans who have vaccinated to date.  Your efforts will ensure that we break the power of this deadly pandemic and speed up the process of saving lives and livelihoods,” Phaahla said.

The lists of open Covid-19 vaccination sites will be available on www.sacoronavirus.co.za from Tuesday 9 November 2021.