Ramaphosa kicks off Vooma vaccination drive in Katlehong
President Cyril Ramaphosa says government aims to vaccinate 300 000 people a day.
He was in Katlehong, Gauteng, on Friday to launch government’s Vooma vaccination campaign.
Government wants to encourage more South Africans to vaccinate as the turn-out continues to slump.
To date, just over 17 million doses have been administered while 8.82 million people are fully vaccinated.
That amounts to only 14% of the population.
Government aims to reach population immunity by December.
"We believe that we now need to vaccinate 17 million people between now and the end of the year. We believe that is doable and all we must do is 250 000 vaccinations every single working day and including this vooma weekend. Other countries have done it, others have vaccinated almost 100%, and why can't we? I believe we can do it as well," said Ramaphosa.
On Thursday, South Africa moved from adjusted level two of the lockdown to adjusted level one.
Many have criticised this move on the back of the reported fourth wave that could hit the country in December.
But Ramaphosa insisted the move was backed by science.
"It was informed by our scientist. They are the ones who said we have no exited the third wave and can now relax the regulations. It is on that guidance that we made that announcement.
"There are people saying we should do away completely with the state of disaster and let things go back to normal, we are guided by science, we will not just willy-nilly respond to the whims of political leaders or whoever.
"Others are concerned that it was a premature move to level 1 because there could be a fourth wave. I have no knowledge of that, so we must be cautious, we must create a balance in protecting both lives and livelihoods.
"Today we are here to ramp up the vaccination progress because the more people get vaccinated the more, we can open the country," said Ramaphosa.
ALSO READ:
