South Africa's Ramaphosa urges citizens to get vaccinated as he recovers from COVID-19

Record ID: 1650903

  • Title: South Africa's Ramaphosa urges citizens to get vaccinated as he recovers from COVID-19
  • Date: 13th December 2021
  • Summary: DIAMNIADIO, SENEGAL (RECENT - DECEMBER 6, 2021) (REUTERS) RAMAPHOSA WALKING TO PODIUM AT DAKAR INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON PEACE AND SECURITY (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT, CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SAYING: (AUDIO AS INCOMING) "Now I have personally really been disappointed in the approach that the rich countries have taken on the issue of vaccines. Firstly, they ordered vaccines, they ordered more vaccines than their populations required, and when we wanted vaccines, they just kept giving us the crumbs from their table. The greed that they demonstrated is something that is quite, quite disappointing indeed."
  • Embargoed: 27th December 2021 11:29
  • Keywords: Covid-19 Cyril Ramaphosa Omicron South Africa coronavirus vaccine apartheid
  • Location: INTERNET / DIAMNIADIO, SENEGAL / ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
  • City: INTERNET / DIAMNIADIO, SENEGAL / ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Africa,Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA002F7VG8XZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:South African President Cyril Ramaphosa urged citizens to get vaccinated against COVID-19 on Monday (December 13) and thanked them for their support after he tested positive for the virus on Sunday (December 12).
    "As I recover, my message of the week is: don't let your guard down. Do everything you can and need to, to stay safe, beginning with vaccination," he wrote on Twitter.
    The presidency said Ramaphosa was showing only mild symptoms and was self-isolating in Cape Town after delegating his duties to Deputy President David Mabuza.
    Ramaphosa has been a vocal critic of rich countries' stance on vaccines and said they had given poorer countries "the crumbs from their table" at a speech at the Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security earlier in December.
    In the past few days, a nationwide outbreak in South Africa believed to be linked to the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been infecting around 20,000 people a day. South African scientists see no sign that the variant causes more severe illness.
    (Production: Jeevan Ravindran)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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