Safety first:
Sweat, a sex worker human rights organisation, and sex workers marched to a vaccine site in Salt River, Cape Town, to get their Covid-19 shots on Tuesday. Earlier they protested outside the Mowbray police station against discrimination.
The organisers of the annual post-matric festival Ballito Rage said on Tuesday that entry will be restricted to people who have been vaccinated against Covid19, as it seeks to prevent a repeat of 2020’s super-spreader event.
Festivalgoers will also have to take rapid antigen tests on the first, third and final day of the five-day event. Staff will have daily tests.
The move comes as SA’s Covid-19 vaccination programme gathers pace and more companies announce plans to make shots mandatory.
Earlier in September, health and life insurer Discovery and financial services firm Sanlam said they would introduce compulsory shots for staff.
On Monday PSG CEO Piet Mouton issued an open letter, saying people who chose not to be vaccinated should be denied entry to public parks, shopping centres, businesses and educational institutions.
SA has administered more than 14.9-million vaccine doses of the single-jab Johnson & Johnson vaccine or double-shot Pfizer/BioNTech jab. On Monday night, more than 7.3-million adults, or 18.2% of the adult population, were fully immunised.
“We intend to use our festival as a vehicle for positive mindset change and encourage young people to do the right thing and get vaccinated,” said G&G Productions CEO Greg Walsh.
More than 1,000 cases of Covid-19 were linked to Ballito Rage in 2020, adding impetus to SA’s second surge of coronavirus infections. Experts expect SA, which is emerging from a third wave that peaked in July, will see another surge towards the end of the year. This expectation is based on the fact that the waves have occurred roughly every five to six months, suggesting the fourth wave could well coincide with the festival.
“The team is working tirelessly on the Ballito Rage 2021 safety, Covid-19 mitigation and operational plan. The mitigation tools at our disposal in 2021 are incomparable with 2020,” Walsh said.
The festival organisers will require attendees to show proof of their government-approved Covid-19 vaccination certificate, which the organisers will verify through the health department’s electronic vaccine data system.
Vaccine recipients are issued with a vaccination card and receive SMS confirmation that they have been immunised, with a unique vaccination code.
On Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government would soon provide details on its plans for vaccine passports. One of the options it is exploring is a cellphoneenabled electronic vaccination certificate.
He urged people to get inoculated as soon as possible, not only to protect their own health but to enable further opening of the economy.
“Vaccines are safe, effective and free. [They] are the most potent weapon we have to fight this pandemic. The sooner we are all vaccinated, the sooner we can open up sports venues to spectators welcome tourists to our beautiful country [and] return our economy to full operation and create the jobs our country needs,” he said.
The Rage organisers welcomed the president’s move on Sunday to ease restrictions on the size of gatherings and liquor sales and his acknowledgment of the devastating effect the pandemic has had on artists and the events industry.
“It’s time to work together to find solutions to safely gather and return our economy to 100% capacity. We cannot continue with nearly 1.3-million unemployed people in the events, hospitality and sporting industries and the associated supply chains,” said Walsh.