Vaccine hesitancy among men still a concern, says MEC
Eastern Cape health department MEC Nomakhosazana Meth has confirmed that most parts of the province have Covid-19 under control, but she is concerned at the low number of men getting vaccinated.
Meth held a media briefing at the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro council chambers on Wednesday, before the department commemorated the African Traditional Medicine Day (ATMD) at the city hall.
More than one million people have been vaccinated in the Eastern Cape.
However, she said, the department should not fall into complacency.
After reaching the peak of Covid-19 towards the end of August, the highest number of hospitalisations came from the two metros in the province.
“This means we must redouble our efforts for our vaccination programme.
“Active Covid-19 cases have subsided in recent weeks, even though we still get areas like Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City municipality which have unacceptably high cases.
“The Nelson Mandela Bay region and the neighbouring Sarah Baartman region have been problematic since day one, when we had our first confirmed case in March 2020.
“At this rate we should vaccinate at least two million people by the end of this calendar year,” she said.
Meth bemoaned the fact that only 38.02% of the vaccinated population were men, while women accounted for 61.98%.
“We have more women than men, but that 38.02% is too low. We are doing everything in our power to encourage our brothers, sons, fathers, grandfathers to do the right thing and get vaccinated.
“We have campaigns aimed mainly at men, by taking the life-saving jabs directly to them in places like taxi ranks, malls, places of entertainment, restaurants, and we will work with taverns as well.
“We are doing everything in our power to address the vaccine hesitancy; we cannot do it alone, so we are appealing to people to come and get vaccinated,” Meth said.
Eastern Cape department of health deputy director-general Dr Litha Matiwane added that most people who were vaccinated and were hospitalised only showed mild Covid-19 symptoms.
Most patients did not need to go to the intensive care unit before being discharged.
The old Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in Mdantsane will be used as a vaccination site at the end of September.