Vaccination roll-out programme is running smoothly in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng: Kubayi

SHARE THIS PAGE!

Connect Radio News

Acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi says government’s vaccination roll-out programme is running smoothly in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

Her statement comes after nearly 50 000 doses of vaccines against COVID-19 were lost during the unrest in the two provinces.

Kubayi says the number of vaccinations decreased due to the closure of sites amid the violence and looting.

“All indications show that we are able to resume quickly and that is why during the week we could be able to resume. And I need to indicate that the disruption that we saw is not only to the vaccine programme. We get reports that people who are on critical and who needs chronic medication, People who regularly visit hospitals and clinic were unable to do so which this meant that it puts their lives at risk more,” says Kubayi.

VIDEO: Acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi briefs the media on COVID-19 and the vaccination rollout plan:

Some medical experts have dismissed reports that the COVID-19 vaccine was the cause of deaths among 28 South Africans.

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority which is investigating this says at this stage there is no evidence that the individuals died as a direct result of taking the vaccine.

However, Progressive Health Forum spokesperson Doctor Aslam Dasoo says it is important for people to understand the risks associated with being vaccinated.

“The vaccines that produce any adverse events would be in the first six months and at the most a year after taking it is very rare.  The side effects of vaccines are found out very quickly. There is no long-term issue to concern ourselves with. If that were the case, then we wouldn’t be, we would be worried about giving childhood vaccines. The thing is that these vaccines have been developed on exactly the same platform, certainly the AstraZeneca and the J&J as other vaccines in common use. The two new generation vaccines are the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccine,” says Dasoo.

8 months ago