Struggle stalwart Sophie Williams-de Bruyn on Wednesday received her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at Johannesburg\u2019s Alexander Community Health Care Centre.<\/p>\n
The last surviving organiser of the 1956 Women\u2019s March has since pleaded with communities not to drop their guard now that the COVID-19 vaccination rollout programme is underway.<\/p>\n
The 83-year-old is among several leaders who have agreed to take the vaccine publicly as part of mobilising the rest of society to participate in the mass vaccination programme.<\/p>\n
According to the Gauteng Health Department, leaders from various sectors of society have been publicly receiving their vaccinations as part of efforts to address vaccine hesitancy and concerns around its safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople shouldn\u2019t oppose but come and have their vaccine because it is to protect ourselves. It does not mean that you won\u2019t catch COVID-19. All that it means is that it\u2019s just another protection against COVID-19,\u201d said Williams-de Bruyn.<\/p>\n
She has also called on citizens to continue to observe the non-pharmaceutical protocols by keeping to the protocols of social distancing, the washing of hands and the wearing the masks.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople should wear their masks properly because sometimes when we wear the mask, we don\u2019t wear it properly.\u201d<\/p>\n
She has urged citizens to be disciplined when it comes to hygiene. <\/p>\n
\u201cI would encourage everybody to have their vaccination. We see what is happening in the world. It\u2019s not only our country. In fact, in some of the countries, it\u2019s even worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, human rights activist, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and his wife, Leah, were also among the first to receive their shots in Cape Town on the launch day of phase two of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll my life I have tried to do the right thing and, today, getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is definitely the right thing to do. That is why Leah and I took this step, to do our part to start the national healing process so we can end this pandemic. We have to do this together,\u201d the Archbishop said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBelieve me, when you get to our age, little needles worry you far less than bending over does.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said it was wonderful to get out of the house and meet the dedicated healthcare workers who immunised them.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeah and I signed up to be vaccinated a while ago because we know this will help save our loved ones from worry and heartbreak, and ourselves from this terrible disease.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also paid tribute to healthcare workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI salute you. God bless all of you for your selfless service to our citizens and our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Health Minister, Dr Mkhize Mkhize, announced that the total number of those vaccinated in phase two to date stands at 39 371. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Struggle stalwart Sophie Williams-de Bruyn on Wednesday received her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at Johannesburg\u2019s Alexander Community Health Care Centre. The last surviving organiser of the 1956 Women\u2019s March has since pleaded with communities not to drop their guard now that the COVID-19 vaccination rollout programme is underway. The 83-year-old is among several […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-189424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-sanews","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}