Low vaccination in Garden Route

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - Health Minister Joe Phaahla said during a Covid-19 update earlier in March that just over 100 000 vaccine doses were being administered in the country per day and they were concerned that there were not enough new vaccinations.

The aim is to vaccinate at least 70% of people in the country.

In the Garden Route, the same trend is seen, with lower numbers of new vaccinations than booster doses being taken up, according to district health spokesperson Nadia Ferreira.

She said on average, 35 people were being vaccinated per day in George in the first ten days of March (receiving either a first or second dose). In the whole of the Garden Route, 95 people were vaccinated per day during this period.

In the same period, on average 269 booster shots were administered per day in George, and in the Garden Route 965.

Only 13,9% of fully vaccinated people (all age groups) in the Garden Route have taken up the booster shot to date, said Ferreira.

Losses due to expiry of vaccines

Ferreira confirmed that there have been vaccine losses due to expiry for both Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccines.

"Pfizer vaccines have an expiry date of 30 days after defrosting from -70 degrees Celsius. This is extremely challenging in terms of planning, as we experienced a sudden reduction in uptake from a record high in mid-December, to extreme lows a week later," Ferreira said.

"J&J losses occurred due to slower and lower than anticipated uptake of the booster doses. We undertook many interventions to reduce stock losses due to expiry, such as re-distributing stock to facilities that had stock with longer expiry dates, but when the uptake drops to very low levels, there is not much one can do."

In an online poll done by George Herald, 40,77% of respondents indicated they are getting the booster Covid vaccine shot and 39,23% was not getting a booster. A total of 20% said they are not getting vaccinated at all.

District figures

The number of Garden Route Covid cases is still declining. According to the Western Cape Covid-19 Dashboard, as at Tuesday 22 March the district had 370 active cases (George 162, Mossel Bay 78, Knysna 55, Oudtshoorn 28, Hessequa 22, Bitou 19 and Kannaland 6).

A month ago (23 February) there were 482.

Uncontrolled chronic conditions

Fear to visit health facilities during the pandemic has had a negative impact on people's health. According to Ferreira, there was a reduction in numbers at some facilities during the pandemic and they are now seeing patients with uncontrolled chronic conditions.

"We are encouraging patients, especially those with chronic conditions, to take their medication and to come back to the clinic for their appointments and check-ups. We have also learned a lot during the pandemic and are working to improve service delivery through outreaches, extended hours at some of our facilities, and our community-oriented primary care approach through community health workers," said Ferreira.

The poll results from our 6 websites.