South Africa to introduce R100 vouchers and other incentives for people to get vaccinated

The Department of Health is working alongside business partners to introduce a number of new incentives to encourage South Africans to vaccinate, including R100 vouchers.

Department spokesperson Foster Mohale said these incentives form part of an ongoing partnership with the country’s business sector and would not be directly funded by the government.

He added that while final specifics on the incentives are still being discussed, the government and businesses already have a number of incentives in place to encourage vaccinations, including deals with Uber and taxi associations to offer transport to vaccination sites.

Mohale said that more details around the incentives would be provided at the Department of Health’s weekly briefing on Friday morning (27 October).

However, a notice sent by Business For South Africa (B4SA) on Wednesday indicates that a R100 ‘Vooma Vaccination Voucher’ would be given to people over the age of 60 who get vaccinated in the month of November.

“The next Vooma Vaccination Weekend will be held from 12-14 November 2021 and all leaders across South Africa are urged to get behind the vaccination programme and mobilise their followers,” B4SA said.

“People are more likely to will come forward to be vaccinated if they hear the message from people they trust: people who can reassure them, take away some of their anxieties, and provide them with the facts.”

The closer South Africa can get vaccinating 70% of adults by the end of the year, the more lives we will save, the group said.

“Three out of every five over-50s are now vaccinated, but if we can get close to five out of five by the end of the year, we will significantly dampen the power of the fourth wave.”

South Africa reported 331 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday (27 October), taking the total reported to 2,920,109.

Deaths have reached 88,987 (+53), while recoveries have climbed to 2,812,320, leaving the country with a balance of 18,802 active cases. The total number of vaccines administered is 21,721,854 (+207,821).

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