Johannesburg – Have you been vaccinated?
I have not, even though my age group recently reached the threshold.
I am adhering to the established hygiene protocols and I’m always masked when I venture outside.
I sanitise religiously and maintain social distance.
However, I am aware of the risk I’m exposed to on account of my weakness for romantic contact.
The government is unlikely to meet its target to achieve herd immunity by the end of the year and, in that scenario, we must steel ourselves for periodic hard lockdowns.
Lockdown fatigue has worn us down even as the pandemic rages relentlessly.
The fourth wave is pencilled to hit our shores in October.
In my circle, there are pockets of vaccine resistance and I have heard uncorroborated fables about the effects of the Covid-19 vaccines. Just last week, an unvaccinated mine worker friend claimed one of his colleagues “suffered” from an erection after being vaccinated. Eureka!
If you want any male to imbibe whatever concoction, promise them virility. The vaccine-shy only need to be told a jab will enhance their manhood and you’ll see queues at vaccination centres. My politician friends swear by the aphrodisiac effects of moringa, while another, a soccer player, says mageu, peanuts, bananas and raw eggs have helped him score in the bedroom.
A famous church from Limpopo sells tea and tells the flock never to add sugar to the brew. According to my doctor brother, reducing your sugar intake guarantees health benefits beyond the bedroom. This may come as news to you, but I drink on average six cups of tea on a normal day and I have struggled to reduce my three sugar teaspoons per mug. Thankfully, this has not had an adverse effect on my conjugal Olympics.
Now, back to the vaccines and fake news.
Our only realistic weapon against Covid-19 and resulting lockdowns is for millions of us to take the jab. In my book, the government has not done enough to convince the people to be inoculated. There are not nearly enough vaccination sites and information.
You have likely seen other countries returning to normality because their vaccination programmes are ahead of ours. You have seen spectators return to stadiums in Europe to support their teams while ours play before empty seats.
Opposition parties have speculated that the governing party is drunk on its power to control the movement of people.
That may be true, or not, but we were told a long time ago that the fight against the pandemic is in our hands. When President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the family meeting tonight, many ears will be deaf to his vaccination roll-out message.
Millions will be attuned to one item: whether he will open the pubs and liquor outlets tomorrow. Skewed priorities, if you ask me.
Click here to read more political news from this week’s newspaper.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
Sunday World
