To end the Covid-19 pandemic, we need to get vaccinated. But if the current vaccination rate becomes the average, it will take 18 years and 16 days to reach a herd immunity of 67% of the population. The
Media Hack launched a vaccination calculator on March 15, and it calculated that if the current rate of vaccines becomes the norm, we should reach herd immunity by 2039.
Professor Barry Schoub, the chairperson of the government’s vaccine ministerial advisory committee says: “It is what was originally planned – we are doing about 10,000 a day.”
In an interview with the
Daily Maverick, Schoub said that Phase 1 of the national vaccine plan is slow because it is still a trial being run with Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose jab for healthcare workers.
Patience is a virtue, and South Africans will need plenty of it while waiting for a vaccine. With the Johnson & Johnson doses now online – and more Pfizer shots on their way next month – the mass inoculation drive is building up some momentum. However, Mzansi remains well behind dozens of other countries that are jabbing their way to freedom.
When will I get the COVID-19 vaccine in South Africa?
That’s where this VERY handy ‘vaccine calculator’ comes into play: The gadget was developed by two young experts in the field: Elem Oghenekaro is an agricultural economist, and a recent science graduate from the University of Benin. Aleksandra Zając MD, meanwhile, has built several of these tools during the pandemic.