South Africa's COVID-19 vaccination campaign is regaining momentum after being disrupted earlier this month by a week of riots sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma, the country's acting health minister said Friday.
At least 120 pharmacies, including 71 that were vaccination sites, were damaged and closed during the unrest in the KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces, acting Health Minister Mamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said. More than 47,000 vaccine doses were destroyed when the sites were ransacked, she said.
Police also are investigating 132 cases of arson, including the burning of 11 warehouses and 8 factories. Property worth an estimated 20 billion rand was destroyed in KwaZulu-Natal. The violence was finally quelled when 25,000 army troops were deployed. Vaccination rates dropped as a result of the unrest, but have picked up pace. South Africa gave shots to more than 220,000 people per day this week and aims to increase the number to 300,000 jabs each weekday next week.
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