Makana municipality first to fully vaccinate registered residents over 50

Makana Local Municipality is the first municipality in the province to fully vaccinate all its residents aged 50 years and older who registered to get the jab.

The popular tourism destination achieved the milestone after a ramped-up vaccination rollout by the Department of Health in partnership with the municipality.

The municipality surpassed its daily vaccination targets between September 1 and October 5 with 8,152 people in the 60+ age group being vaccinated, while7,310 people in the 50-59 group have been inoculated.

Health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth referred to the Makana vaccination drive as a success story and called on other municipalities and districts to emulate the residents of Makhanda and Alicedale.

“We are happy that the people of Makana have embraced the vaccine, both men and women aged 50 years and older.

“Having these two groups fully vaccinated means Makana is the safest place in the Eastern Cape and among the safest in the entire country.

“This means tourists can and should visit the area so that our tourism industry, which has been severely affected by the global health pandemic, can recover.

“We are happy that the older people, who normally have other underlying conditions which make them more vulnerable to the virus are leading from the front and got the jab.

“We are calling on the remaining 17,760 people in the 18 to 49-year group to come forward because they are the most active group.

“These are breadwinners and the future of our province and country,” Meth said.

According to a statement issued by the department, pop-up vaccine sites at taverns, tshisanyamas, sports fields and shopping malls have been scaled up in a bid to vaccinate 70% of the Eastern Cape population by the end of March.

As of October 8, at least 2,237,834 vaccines have been administered to 1,574,450 people — of which 1,186,371 have been fully vaccinated in the province, according to the department.

Makana residents account for 32,708 of the fully vaccinated population.

The MEC stressed the importance of getting vaccinated, saying vaccinated people were much less likely to be hospitalised should they contract Covid-19.

“People must ignore the lies that vaccinated people will die two years after getting the jab or that being vaccinated leads to impotence in men.

“The vaccine is our biggest shield against this virus, while scientists continue looking for a cure.

“Being vaccinated doesn’t mean people should stop wearing masks, social distancing or practising good personal hygiene.

“We can beat this if we continue working together so that we will continue building better communities together.”

HeraldLIVE