COVID-19 vaccination: ‘A town a day’

105 of the 125 residents of the Tankwa Karoo area were vaccinated in one go. Western Cape Health’s team from the Witzenberg reached out to this remote area close to the border between the Western and Northern Cape on Saturday 31 July to make sure that people living here also had protection against severe illness due to COVID-19.

The 105 people who were vaccinated are all permanent residents working on farms in the area. 

Healthcare workers of the Witzenberg not only know how to get to this very remote community, but they also have good relationships with the citizens. The team annually or biannually visit them to provide basic healthcare services.

“What stood out for me, was how genuinely grateful everyone was – grateful that someone went to all the trouble of getting them the opportunity to be vaccinated,” said Sr Madelein Bauer, Assistant Manager of Primary Healthcare Services in the Witzenberg. She was part of the small but determined team who registered and vaccinated residents at the Tankwa Padstal, situated 80 km north of Ceres and 160 km south of Calvinia.

By the morning of 3 August healthcare workers in the province vaccinated close to 400 000 indivudualls fully, and another 529 640 await their second of the two-dose vaccine.

There is still an increase in the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 and everyone (regardless of whether you have been vaccinated or still await your turn) must wear their mask, keep a safe distance from others and limit interaction with people from other households.