Why Should We Vaccinate?
If you get vaccinated, there is a 90% chance that you will either not get COVID-19 or get only a mild case of the disease.
It is the most important strategy to control the pandemic. If you get vaccinated, there is a greatly improved chance that you will not get COVID-19. This will also help to prevent the spread of the disease to other people.
The primary benefit of the COVID-19 vaccine is that it protects people from severe illness from the disease that may require hospitalisation.
Vaccination Saves Lives
The National Department of Health states that:
“There is overwhelming evidence that the vaccination is the best defence against serious infections. Vaccines do not give you the virus, rather they teach your immune system to recognise and fight the infection. Vaccines have helped reduce the morbidity and mortality of many infectious diseases such as smallpox, poliomyelitis, hepatitis B, measles and tetanus across the world. Vaccinating enough people would help create herd immunity and stamp out the disease.”
Herd Immunity
A person who has been vaccinated will have a much lower risk of being infected with COVID-19. As more people in a community are vaccinated there is less chance of the virus being passed on from one person to another. When a high percentage of a population has been vaccinated, it becomes difficult for an infectious disease to spread. This means that those who have not been vaccinated are also at a lower risk of contracting the disease.
In vaccinated communities the spread of the infection is substantially reduced, and the entire community (the herd) is safer, even though not all individuals are vaccinated. Usually 50%-80% of the population needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. The target for South Africa is to vaccinate 67% of the entire population of the country by the end of 2021.
Is the COVID-19 Vaccine Mandatory?
No, it is not mandatory. You have right to choose not to be vaccinated. It is unconstitutional and a breach of the Labour Relations Act to discriminate against anyone who refuses the vaccine.
However, we hope you will be comfortable in having the vaccine.
