KwaZulu-Natal health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu on Tuesday urged parents to encourage vaccination of their children following an increase in positive Covid-19 tests among children as young as 14 years old. 

Simelane-Zulu briefed the media on the province’s response to Covid-19, which she said affected all age groups from four months upwards. 

The MEC said the vaccination of children aged 12 to 17 was in their best interest and that of public health in the province.

Here are five quotes from her address:

Fewer getting vaccinated 

“Instead of growing, our vaccination numbers have dropped in recent weeks, particularly when we entered the festive season. We have moved from 20,000 vaccinations per week to fewer than 10,000. So far our province has vaccinated 2.7-million people.”

More young people must get vaccinated 

“We urge all those who have not been vaccinated to get a jab. This will enable their bodies to fight the coronavirus if they are infected. It will also reduce their risk of severe illness, hospitalisation and death. This will move the country closer to achieving the population immunity we have been talking about.”

Racial breakdown of vaccinated people 

“Black Africans have not been forthcoming in large numbers when compared with people of other races in the province. This is why we are intensifying our efforts in townships and rural areas. Our efforts are good if people are willing to respond. If people don’t respond, our efforts will be futile.”

Vaccine myths

“We encourage people not to listen to information that is not verified, information that is spread on social media, that does not have credibility.

“We are looking at finding ways to remove barriers to physical access to our vaccination sites. We have started to establish vaccination pop-up sites and vaccination drive-throughs.”

Concern about gatherings 

“When people are in large group indoors and partying, it becomes impossible to adhere to social distancing. We want to appeal to all our visitors to keep the importance of vaccination at the top of their minds and ensure they behave in a way that will not make it easy for them to get infected or pass the virus to other people.”