COVID-19 Update | 10 December 2021

Published: Fri, 12/10/21

Vaccine Rollout

According to SA coronavirus, 14.9 million of the South African population have now been fully vaccinated, this is 37.46%. People from the ages of 12 can now get vaccinated from their nearest vaccination centres. Find your nearest site here.

The number of vaccinated individuals changes on a daily basis. To get accurate updates on the vaccine rollout visit the external resources section on our COVID-19 Vaccine page or click here.

Source: SA coronavirus

COVID-19 Cases

As of 09 December, 22 391 new COIVD-19 cases have been reported and the number of active COVID-19 cases has now risen to 133 063. The recovery rate is now sitting at 92.8%. South Africa still has a long way to go before reaching immunity and therefore, it is important to continue adhering to all COVID-19 safety regulations.

Source: SA Coronavirus

Pfizer Vaccine Offers Partial Antibodies

According to the Africa Health Research Institute, Professor Alex Sigal says “the latest studies show that there’s a very large drop in the neutralization of the Omicron variant relative to earlier strains of COVID, suggesting that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine only partially protects against Omicron.”

As more studies emerge from the centre about the new variant, it shows that from the previous strains, Omicron is five to ten times more likely to escape the vaccine than the Beta variant, which was also first reported in South Africa and previously had the best ability to evade the jab.

However, Medical centres like Netcare say the early trends of Omicron are far less severe than previous variants. Chief Executive Officer, Dr Richard Friedland says “Approximately 90% of the number of admitted patients for COVID-19 require no form of oxygen therapy. However, we still understand that these are still early days of this new variant.”

Source: Sowetan and Netcare Media Release

Pfizer Booster Shots Approved

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has approved the third Pfizer COVID vaccine booster dose for people over the age of 18.

According to SAHPRA a third dose of the Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine in individuals aged 18 years and older, to be administered at least 6 months after the second dose.

A third dose of the Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine in individuals aged 12 years and older, who are severely immunocompromised, to be administered at least 28 days after the second dose.

This comes after studies have shown that Omicron can evade the initial two-shot Pfizer vaccine.

Source: Sowetan and Netcare Media Release

Mandatory Vaccination on the cards for Workplaces

The National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) has thrown its support behind restricting public gatherings to vaccinated persons, and businesses only allowing vaccinated employees to access their place of work. This comes after their annual national summit where Executive Director Lisa Seftel said “government should continue ramping up vaccinations and public gatherings should continue to restrict those that have not yet been vaccinated for COVID-19.”

Labour and Employment Minister Thulas Nxesi has also confirmed that Nedlac has recommended that mandatory vaccinations should be implemented in workplaces and access to certain venues should be allowed only to those who are vaccinated. However, The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) says it will embark on a mass campaign to encourage workers to vaccinate, but opposes the introduction of vaccine mandates at workplaces and other sites. While mandates are only expected to be introduced in early 2022, several businesses have already introduced mandatory vaccination policies.

Source: Fin24

Sincerely,

Kaelo

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