Health Minister Joe Phaahla said that the ministerial advisory committee on COVID-19 vaccines would soon announce when more people could line up for their booster shots.
CAPE TOWN – South Africans over the age of 18 years will soon be able to queue up for another COVID-19 vaccine booster.
Health Minister Joe Phaahla on Tuesday announced that South Africa would not impose travel restrictions on any country, including China.
This after the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant was detected in the country through genomic surveillance.
Phaahla said that the country would also not reintroduce domestic coronavirus safety measures.
Public health experts said that South Africans still had high levels of protection against COVID-19 through vaccination or naturally-induced immunity.
Epidemiologists said that there had been no major change in the country’s rate of coronavirus infections, hospital admissions or deaths since the discovery of the new Omicron subvariant picked up in more than 20 countries so far.
The minister said that the ministerial advisory committee on COVID-19 vaccines would soon announce when more people could line up for their booster shots.
“For the booster, we’re looking at including not only the people over 50 but all others from 18 years on upward. We’re going to finalise this in the next few days,” Phaahla said.
Just over 19.3 million people are fully vaccinated in South Africa, while more than 38 million vaccine doses had been administered.
