On Friday (15 October), South Africa breached the landmark of 20m COVID-19 doses administered, with another 154,000 people added to the tally of those fully vaccinated.
Business Insider reports that this means about 35% of the adult population is at least is partially vaccinated. But at a little under 27% of the adult population fully vaccinated, however, the country still lags behind the global average of around 37%.
Ignore younger people, both less at risk of severe COVID-19 and not as worried about being vaccinated, and the numbers skyrocket. In the 60+ age group, more than 60% of people have been vaccinated. Among those between 50 and 60 years old, more than 50% have been vaccinated. Between the ages of 35 and 49, the proportion is more than 40% – for women. Among men in that category, the proportion drops to a little more than 35%. But young adults, those up to 34, drag the average down, with only 23% of women and less than 17% of men in that bracket having been vaccinated.
South Africa also has 10.7m people considered fully vaccinated – under the current regime, where a single dose of J&J counts.
On Friday (15 October) the US moved towards treating J&J as a two-dose vaccine, after data showed its efficacy shoots up after a booster dose. In South Africa, about 4.6 million people have received a single dose of the J&J vaccine. If the definition of fully vaccinated were to change to exclude them until they receive another dose, it would set things back by roughly a month, at the current rate of vaccination.
Things also get a bit more complicated this week, adds Business Insider, when vaccinations for children 12 to 17 are due to start, adding around 6.5m to the roster of those due to receive shots.
The world has now dished out more than 6.6bn doses, and the totals for people who have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and those considered fully vaccinated, are on track to hit 40% and 50%, respectively, soon.
Around 30 countries have reached or exceeded the herd immunity target South Africa has set for itself, of being two-thirds fully vaccinated before year-end. That includes the rich nations of Europe, and small island states like the Maldives. But also in that group are countries with which South Africa is closer to being comparable: Chile, Uruguay, and Malaysia.
On the continent, Morocco counts more than half its population fully vaccinated, and Tunisia is above a third. Beyond those, and Zimbabwe, which is tracking close to South Africaʼs level of vaccination, things go from bad to worse. Many countries are still officially at below 1% fully vaccinated, which is exceedingly rare elsewhere on the planet, outside disaster zones like Yemen and Haiti.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Decline in South Africa's vaccine rate is a ‘national emergency’
Oxford Vaccine Group: Delta renders herd immunity ‘mythical’
COVID-19 in children: The South African experience and way forward