Door-to-door vaccination drive will speed up progress, says Mabuza

Mandla Khoza Freelance journalist
Deputy president David Mabuza says there may be a door to door vaccination drive.
Deputy president David Mabuza says there may be a door to door vaccination drive.
Image: Mandla Khoza

Deputy president David Mabuza says door-to-door visits will form part of Mpumalanga's recently launched vaccination drive.

“We want all to be vaccinated; those who  don't want we will persuade them. We are bringing vaccination to the people and we will be knocking at your door to vaccinate you. We understand it’s a person’s choice but we will persuade you and tell you why it is important to vaccinate,” said Mabuza. 

He said churches will also be used as vaccination centres. 

 “We are calling all our faith-based leaders to open their churches and allow their members to vaccinate.” 

Speaking during the launch of the vaccination drive for sportsmen and spectators in Mbombela stadium on Monday, Mabuza said opening of stadiums for fans to attend will be determined after at least  40 million people had been  vaccinated. 

“We need at least 40 million of our population to be vaccinated where we can think of population immunity and maybe then cabinet can sit and decide if it’s safe to open our stadiums,” said Mabuza. 

Mabuza was accompanied by minister sports arts and culture Nathi Mthethwa, deputy minister of health Dr Sibongiseni Dlomo, health MEC in Mpumalanga Sasekani Manzini and MEC for sports, arts and culture Thandi Shongwe. 

“The longer we take to fully open up the economy and allow the unhindered process towards economic reconstruction and recovery, the more challenging it will be to improve the situation in the shortest time available,” Mabuza added. 

“However, the faster we avail ourselves to vaccinate the sooner it will make meaningful strides in economic recovery. The value chain in the sports, cultural activity has been disrupted, you can’t see people selling, everything have been disrupted and we lost jobs. 

“Together we can defeat this pandemic and that is through the vaccination of our population. We are making strides as government is dealing with fake news, this vaccine doesn’t kill.” 

He said the drive will go in all the country’s stadiums to encourage sports fans and players to vaccinate. 

Part of the teams that attended were the Mpumalanga Pumas rugby team, TS Galaxy and TS Sporting and other netball, athletics teams. 

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