By Sakhile Ndlazi 
13m ago
Pretoria – Former chairperson of the Electoral Commission Dr Brigalia Bam yesterday joined other senior citizens in rolling up sleeves up to get vaccinated against Covid-19 yesterday.
The 88-year-old took her jab at FF Ribeiro Clinic at Sammy Marks in the Pretoria CBD.
The healthy-looking Bam was among the group of senior citizens to heed the government’s call to register on the Electronic Vaccination Data System for their jab.
She commended the efficiency and systems in place at the clinic and encouraged her counterparts to get vaccinated.
“I have been brought to this wonderful place (clinic) by my colleagues at the Electoral Commission. I’m very grateful to all the institutions, the government, the Department of Health and all professional health workers. I encourage my peers to come get their jab,” she said.
Bam also hailed the manner in which the elderly were treated by the staff.
“The systems are well set in place, the staff explain the process. Also no paying, waiting for long.”
She encouraged the elderly to exercise their rights and opportunities: “The government has paid a lot of money for its programme to ensure we are safe, so let’s please make use of it,” she said.
The country’s first phase of the vaccination drive was marred by delays and suspension of vaccines, leaving South Africa lagging behind compared to the global roll-out.
Meanwhile, the South African Medical Association has called on the Health Department to open more vaccine sites and ensure that the entire system was more efficient.
Government’s second phase of the vaccine programme kick-started around the country last week.
Sama said despite some teething problems including violent service delivery protests in Bloemfontein and load shedding, which prevented some vaccination sites from operating fully in the first week, the roll-out was relatively smooth.
Officials hope to reach 5 million senior citizens by the end of next month.
The first week of the nationwide phase 2 vaccination campaign saw more than 100 000 people receive their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at 177 vaccination sites.
On the distribution of the vaccine, the roll-out is scheduled to take a three-phase approach that began with the most vulnerable of the population, the target being to vaccinate 67% of the population by the end of the year, to allow the achievement of herd immunity.
Pretoria News
Credit IOL