Covid-19 in South Africa: vaccination open to all adults

South Africa has opened vaccination to all adults and hopes to reach the set target of 70% of the adult population vaccinated by the end of the year.

Luis ROBAYO AFP / File

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

South Africa opened vaccination this weekend to all adults.

The country continues to record nearly 13,000 new cases of coronavirus per day and only 8% of the population is so far fully vaccinated.

Advertising

Read more

With our correspondent in Johannesburg,

Claire Bargelès

Although 72% of South Africans surveyed in a study by the University of Johannesburg say they are ready to ' 

accept

 ' the vaccine, the pace in vaccination centers is not fast enough to hope to reach the set target of 70 % of the adult population vaccinated, by the end of the year.

The government hopes to speed up the pace by making the process more accessible.

To facilitate access, mobile clinics have sprung up in the streets, like here in this collective taxi stand in Soweto. Zodwa Malamule supervises the operations: “ 

We realized that people did not come to the vaccination centers. So we bring the centers to them. There are a lot of people here who come from different places and it is easy for them, before taking a taxi, to stop and get vaccinated. The same goes for the drivers. They can easily go to get vaccinated.

 "

Vaccination

is now open to everyone over 18, several young adults have settled on the plastic chairs in the queue, like Ephraim, 32 years old: “ 

I came with my father.

He is 59 years old and it was he who proposed that we come to be vaccinated once and for all because we were waiting for the opportunity.

It's a family vaccination.

 "

Train to go and vaccinate remote areas

Yet those under 35 are part of the most reluctant population in the country, in the face of the vaccine.

Nyankwabe, 30, who has come to receive his dose, hopes to change his friends' minds: “ 

They hesitate a lot.

That's a shame.

They say they are thinking but one day they will, maybe.

I will tell them about my experience, maybe they will understand.

I have done my duty and I believe that now I will be safer.

 "

Other initiatives are emerging to facilitate access for populations, such as setting up a train to go and vaccinate the most remote areas of the country.

Newsletter

Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

• South Africa

• Coronavirus