Residents of the Evanna Tehuis retirement home in Hartebeesfontein, northwest South Africa, received their Covid-19 vaccinations on-site to relieve and apprehension.
South Africa extended its vaccination program to include the elderly on Wednesday, after initially immunizing health workers and students.
“I believe that each person should be given the opportunity to defend themselves. And the fact that the government is supplying us with these vaccinations simplifies matters considerably. You must be optimistic about this sort of thing… I’ll return in 21 days to receive my second dose,” Tersa van der Merwe, a resident of Evanna nursing home, expressed her gratitude after receiving the injection.
By the end of June, the nation plans to immunize nearly 5 million people aged 60 and over.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an anti-apartheid figure, is among those vaccinated as part of the extended initiative.
The 89-year-old was rolled into a vaccination center in Cape Town in a wheelchair, where he and his companion, Leah, received their vaccinations.
Competition to reopen the economy
By the end of the week, the health department expects to administer shots to more than 7,700 senior citizens in 102 nursing homes and 50,000 by the end of May.
“We are so happy to receive the vaccine because our facility has experienced two Covid outbreaks in the last year. And it’s nice to know that we can support ourselves and each other without ending up in the intensive care unit,” According to Theresa Swart, manager of the Evanna nursing home.
South Africa has become the hardest-hit country in Africa by the coronavirus pandemic, and the government has been widely criticized for its slow vaccination program.
Authorities are eager to increase vaccinations to reopen an economy that entered recession last year and lost millions of employments.
South Africa has reported over 1.6 million infections and over 55,000 deaths.
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