Cape Town – Having reached 1 million vaccinations on Monday evening, the Western Cape still has to balance the demand and vaccine supply it receives from the national government.
This after it increased its capacity and ability to administer 30 000 vaccinations per day (150 000 per week). With the addition of younger age groups to the programme resulting in a surge in demand for jabs, the Western Cape Health Department said in a statement its demand for vaccination is temporarily outstripping its capacity at many sites.
The department is expecting more vaccines to be made available to provinces in order for it to vaccinate even more people, having received 96 000 vaccines for this week.
’’We have seen enormous excitement and eagerness for people to get vaccinated. We appreciate the uptake of registration and vaccination.
’’We have seen, as new age bands are added, that this causes excitement and increased demand for vaccination, which is a positive sign,’’ the department said.
’’This week our demand for vaccination temporarily outstrips our vaccine capacity at many sites, but we want to assure everyone who has registered that they will be vaccinated in due course.
’’We received 96 000 vaccines for this week for public sites, which must also include the vaccination of those coming for their second doses.
’’We do anticipate more vaccines being made available to provinces in order for us to vaccinate even more people and have been assured that the general supply of vaccines shows a positive increase from next week. We thank you for your patience and understanding.’’