The first healthcare worker in South Africa to receive a COVID-19 vaccine said it has protected her from contracting the coronavirus.
Sister Zoliswa Gidi-Dyosi, a nurse at Khayelitsha District Hospital, received her jab exactly a year ago on Thursday.
Twelve months later, just over 40% of the country’s adult population has been fully vaccinated.
“Everything is safe and it builds the resistance against the diseases, that’s why everything is going back to normal,” she said.
Even though she’s tested for the coronavirus at least eight times before, 44-year-old Sister Zoliswa Gidi-Dyosi said that all her results had come back negative.
More than 496,000 health workers received a Johnson & Johnson vaccine during the first phase of the Sisonke vaccination programme, but less than 50% of this cohort returned for a booster dose.
Gidi-Dyosi urged those still unsure about getting inoculated to step forward.
“I wish I could climb the tallest tree and tell the people to get vaccinated,” she said.
During a recent WHO visit to South Africa, Health Minister Doctor Joe Phaahla urged South Africans, particularly between the ages of 18 to 35-year-old, to get immunized.
-EWN
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