Nobody will be forced to take vaccines: Ramaphosa.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has told the nation that the government will not make it mandatory for everyone to be vaccinated.

In a televised address to the nation,the President said that the government was committed to vaccinating everyone living in South Africa regardless of their nationality as the country steps up efforts to curb the surge in infections.

“We aim to make the vaccines available to all adults living in South Africa regardless of their citizenship or resident status,”Ramaphosa said.

South Africa is home to migrants from Zimbabwe as well as Nigerians amongst the different foreign communities and the President said that measures would be in place to deal with vaccinating migrants without legal documentation.

“We will be putting in place measures to deal with the challenge of undocumented migrants in our country so that with all other people we can properly record and track their vaccination history,”added Ramaphosa.

South Africa has recorded more COVID-19 cases on the continent and herd immunity is seen as a pathway back to normalcy.President Ramaphosa added that it was crucial for everyone to get vaccinated as soon possibe and that no one would be vaccinated against their will.

“It is in the best interests of all to get the vaccine as possible but I want to be clear,nobody will be forced to take this vaccine,I want to repeat,nobody will be firced to take the vaccine.”

“Nobody will be forbidden from travelling to wherever they want to travel,including from enrolling at school or from taking part in any public activity if they have not been vaccinated,”Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa also dismissed the rumours that the South African government was considering mandatory vaccination.

“Nobody will be given this vaccine against their will nor the vaccine be administered in secret or in dark corners.”

“Any rumors to this effect are false and dangerous.We would like those spreading the rumours to stop,”Ramaphosa added