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The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber says it is deeply concerned about the low rate of vaccination take-up in the metro.
CEO, Denise van Huysteen, said they were also concerned about the impact this could have on economic activity during the December holiday period.
She said current estimates were that the fourth wave could affect the country from early December and if insufficient people are vaccinated, it’s likely to place pressure on the hospitals and limitations on economic activity.
“We should be using this period to do everything possible to proactively accelerate the rate of vaccinations in order to achieve herd immunity,” Van Huysteen said.
“We appeal to all stakeholders, including business, churches, and civil society, to unite around the goal of providing the facts around vaccinations and making this as accessible as possible to all communities.”
Van Huysteen said given the seriousness of the issue, the Chamber has been utilising its platforms to provide access to medical doctors and other experts to understand more about covid-19 and vaccinations.
“Beyond this, we are leading by example with our Board fully vaccinated and more recently, all our employees.”
The Chamber said the Coega Development Corporation has also been actively engaged in conducting vaccination campaigns since the beginning of the vaccination programme.
CEO, Khwezi Tiya, said the CDC implemented operational measures for business continuity, including having its clinic becoming a Covid-19 public vaccination site servicing investors located in the Coega Special Economic Zone and surrounding communities.
Angelo Swart, Divisional Managing Director of the Spar Group, said while the economic impacts of the pandemic were likely to outlive the pandemic itself, there was hope.
“Though South Africa was “slow out of the blocks” to start vaccinating our people, we have made a remarkable turnaround both in terms of our capacity to vaccinate and having an adequate supply of vaccines,” he said.
