E Cape MEC calls on younger Makana residents to get vaccinated

EASTERN Cape Health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth has called on residents in Makana Local Municipality between the ages of 18 and 49 to be vaccinated, and emulate those aged 50 and older who are now fully vaccinated.

This week, Meth announced “all residents” in the municipality aged 50 years and older were fully vaccinated, making the municipality the first in the province to achieve this milestone.

Makana, one of the Eastern Cape’s tourist attractions known for hosting the annual National Arts Festival since 1974, is made up of Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown), Alicedale and Riebeek East.

Meth praised Makana’s older residents, who came in their thousands to get the “life-saving” jab.

“Having the 50 years and older age group fully vaccinated means Makana, a popular tourism destination, bodes well for the Eastern Cape’s efforts of achieving herd immunity by the end of March next year.

“The milestone was achieved after the Department of Health ramped up the vaccination campaign, with Makana Local Municipality surpassing its daily vaccination targets between September 1 and October 5,” said Meth.

Meth said over 30 000 Makana residents were fully vaccinated. A total of 8 152 people aged 60 and older had been vaccinated while 7 310 of those in the 50-59 age group had received the jab.

“We are happy that the people of Makana have embraced the vaccine, both men and women aged 50 years and older. Other municipalities or districts should look at Makana and emulate what the people of Makhanda and Alicedale have done so that we will be protected against this vicious virus. Makana is a success story.

“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 one of those severely affected by the global health pandemic, can recover,” said Meth.

Meth said they were happy that Makana’s older people, many of whom have underlying ailments, were leading from the front.

“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,” she said.

Rhodes University vice-chancellor Dr Sizwe Mabizela said an ongoing university campaign, called Vaccination Fridays, had seen the Makana community wearing yellow T-shirts on Fridays.

“There is no hope in trying to fight a pandemic such as Covid-19 with only the conventional ways.

“Rhodes University appreciated this imperative from the start and implemented innovative communication strategies that included a reorientation of academic training of its pharmacy students to enable the production and free distribution of hundreds of litres of sanitiser, and training of government agencies in the province on the production of non-pharmaceutical preventive products, on a pro bono basis,” said Mabizela.

Mabizela said the university continued to participate in and contribute towards various Covid-19 national task teams.

“We have a vaccination site on campus that caters for both students and members of the public. More recently, an aggressive communitywide awareness-raising vaccination campaign is being implemented in partnership with Makana local schools, civil society formations and major national liquor distributors and nightclubs in the city.’’

Meth said the department had scaled up its vaccination campaign by having pop-up vaccine sites at taverns, tshisanyamas, sports fields and shopping malls, in a bid to vaccinate 70% of the Eastern Cape population by the end of March next year.

So far, about 1 200 000 people in the province have been fully vaccinated.