​Thembisa Shologu
President Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed to communities that South Africa would no longer experience COVID-19 vaccine shortages due to high demand.
President Ramaphosa said this while visiting vaccination sites in Gauteng to assess progress in South Africa's vaccination programme and to motivate greater numbers of people to embrace vaccination.
During the visit, President Ramaphosa was accompanied by Premier David Makhura and Acting Health Minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane.
"We now have a situation where vaccine shortage is no longer going to be our problem. We now have a much more confirmed good supply of vaccines.
"We are bringing in quite a lot of innovation in the vaccination process, and one of the innovations in drive through vaccinations where people just come, stay in their cars and they are vaccinated, the screening happens and then they move on.
"This is a new innovation [and] I think it must be one of the few first in the world, and we keep looking for ways and means in which we can improve to increase the vaccination levels,"  said Ramaphosa.
He added that government was making a great deal of progress in the vaccination drive.
"Today or the day after, we are going to receive 9.7 million vaccines donated by the government of the United States and Aspen at Gqeberha is going to start producing and delivering the vaccine to us and the rest of the continent," said Ramaphosa.
He said government had entered into various negotiations with pharmaceutical companies as well as developed countries in other parts of the world.
"The partnership is helping us a great deal to up the numbers. We are pulling out all stops as we want to reach a very good number of people who are vaccinated by the end of the year.
"With seven million people who have vaccinated we should be leading towards population immunity soon," he said.