Staff Reporter
Over 100 000 people aged between 35 and 49 years old in the Free State have registered to be vaccinated against COVID-19 since the opening of the window for the that age group a few weeks ago.
Provincial health spokesperson Mondli Mvambi announced this in a brief statement and described it as an indication that people in this age group want to protect themselves against the deadly disease.
“We have just passed the 100 000 mark for registrations of 35 to 49,” said Mvambi earlier today.
“This is indicative of a growing appetite for the vaccine in this age group,” he added.
Mangaung Metro tops the list of those registered in the 35-49 age group with about 40 000 people registered, followed by Matjhabeng Local Municipality with at least 14 000.
The Free State aims to vaccinate at least 1.9 million people in order to achieve herd immunity for its 2.8 million population.
To date, about 350 000 people have been vaccinated in the province.
At least 280 000 have received their first jab while over 65 000 have had the second one.
South Africa’s vaccination programme took off to a shaky start earlier this year after about two million doses of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine were withdrawn after they were found to be ineffective against the local strain of the disease.
And as if not enough, a batch of the locally produced Johnson & Johnson vaccine was also withdrawn and destroyed following a directive by the parent company in the US amid fears of possible contamination.