Vaccination record as jab uptake dominated by 18- to 34-year-olds

EIGHTEEN to 34-year-olds have dominated the vaccine uptake since becoming eligible to be inoculated, and has resulted in the province recording a record number of 53 290 vaccinations on August 20, according to health officials.

This came to light during the latest Covid-19 briefing for the province yesterday. “Between August 20 and 25, a total of 88 646 individuals between the ages of 18 and 34 received a Covid-19 vaccine,” head of the provincial health department Dr Keith Cloete said.

By Wednesday, 1 837 310 vaccines had been administered in the province.

Meanwhile, there are currently 42 780 active infectious cases in the Western Cape, with 3 487 Covid-19 patients in hospitals.

“While case numbers have flattened, there is not yet a clear decrease in case numbers. The risk of being in contact with an infected person at any gathering therefore remains high. The proportion positive has decreased slightly to an average of 36.1%,” Cloete added.

He said they were seeing an average of 3 002 new diagnoses each day, with admissions and deaths slightly decreasing. There were an average of 295 new admissions and around 93 deaths daily.

At a briefing by the Africa Centre for Disease Control, director Dr John Nkengasong said as of yesterday, 7.6 million people had been infected by the Covid-19 virus.

“Of that number about 6.7 million have recovered; this represents an 88% recovery rate. Unfortunately 191 000 deaths have been reported across the continent with a case fatality rate of 2.5%,” said Nkengasong.

Between August 16 and 22, the continent recorded 239 000 new cases, a 2% decrease from the previous week, with the highest proportion (46%) of new cases recorded in southern Africa.

South Africa was among the top five countries bearing the largest burdens on the continent, at 36%, followed by Morocco at 11%, Tunisia at 8%, Libya and Ethiopia at both 4%.

“In terms of where we are with the third and fourth wave, 69% of member states, 38 countries, are now experiencing a third wave, with 76% experiencing a very severe third wave (meaning) the peak of daily cases is higher than that of the second wave,” Nkengasong said. Kenya, Algeria, Somalia and Tunisia were already experiencing a fourth wave, he added.