Cele launches police vaccination drive in Soweto
Police Minister Bheki Cele has launched government's inoculation campaign targeting the country's police officers.
Cele, National Police Commissioner Khehla Sitole, and Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya each received their Johnson & Johnson jab at Orlando Stadium on Monday.
"It has been really a long walk to be here, especially for the family of the SAPS," said Cele.
READ: Covid-19 jab rollout for cops to be launched on Monday
"As you know we are always there whenever there is a debate on whether we are frontline workers. The sad part is that we reach this point when we have lost about 670 of our members and those 32 500 who are infected."
The aim is to vaccinate 180 000 officers.
About 900 of them, including top brass, were vaccinated at the stadium.
"While we are getting the jabs, we still must work on other things such as social distancing, wearing masks, washing hands, and using hand sanitisers. It's not every day that I am happy, but today I am happy," added Cele.
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Acting Health Minister Mmaloko Kubayi-Ngubane, who accompanied Cele, said they will soon announce the dates for the inoculation of metro police officers and employees of Correctional Services.
"We are looking at all the frontline workers in the security cluster. We will announce the dates soon for the vaccination of Correctional Services employees and metro police officers. We look forward to herd immunity in the country.
"There is progress on the vaccine program. Last week SAHPRA announced the approval of the Sinovac vaccine, which becomes one of the things that boost our morale and vaccine program because it means we now have multiple vaccines available for us, as we work with scientists to advise if we can go back to using AstraZeneca," said Kubayi-Ngubane.
READ: Police beef up security forces in Nkandla after mass gatherings
