​Qaqambile Mdledle
Gauteng Premier David Makhura says townships, especially in the south of Joburg, are lagging in vaccinations with the lowest number of people inoculated. 
"Our townships are lagging behind. More COVID-19 vaccinations are happening in urban areas. Areas like Orange Farm and Palestine have the lowest uptake with only 11%."
At the district level, Sedibeng District is sitting at the bottom while West Rand is making inroads. 
"For us to reach a level we are comfortable with, we need to vaccinate at least 700 000 people. Currently, 400 000 people have been vaccinated in the township.
"We need everyone to come forward and get the jab. The sooner we all do that, the sooner we will go back to some semblance of normalcy," said Makhura.
He was speaking at a media briefing held in Dobsonville, Soweto on Monday. 
To address this, the Gauteng province has since 30 August 2021 embarked on an intense 14-week drive targeting areas with low vaccine uptake.
The vaccination process has been simplified to make it easier for all eligible people to get the jab at various sites such as mobile pop-up sites, taxi ranks, pharmacies, and workplaces.
As at 17 October 2021, 5,3 million vaccinations have been administered and 2,6 million people have been fully vaccinated in Gauteng.
At least 4,4 million people still need to be vaccinated by mid-December.
Makhura has called on the 1 million people who have not received their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine to return for the jab. 
"We are concerned that people are not as enthusiastic about taking the second dose as they did with the first. I want to assure you that our vaccination sites are running well.
There should not be people waiting on the ques, or massages telling them to come back." 
The Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine, which is a single dose, was taken to rural areas, he said.
The vaccination programme is open to all people in South Africa whether or not they are South African citizens. 
Vaccination is free you can go to a public or private site that offers vaccinations even if you are not on medical aid, he said.
While the country is under Alert Level 1, Makhura warned that people continue to adhere to non-pharmaceutical interventions to minimize the impact of the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections.
Experts believe the fourth wave is likely to set in between November and January.
Regulations were relaxed more than two weeks ago when the country was placed Alert Level 1 regulations which saw large gatherings permitted again.
Makhura has appealed to those who are involved in election gatherings to ensure that they are vaccinated and continue to adhere to COVID-19 health protocols.
"The fourth wave is something that we are still worried about. We have seen in different parts of the world where the vaccinations have been happening very well that when you have things like elections when you have more opening up, the possibility of more infections happening is very high," said Makhura.
Professor Bruce Mellado, Gauteng Command Council member said the province is out of the woods with less than 1000 cases reported weekly. 
"The province looking good in terms of the decline in the number of cases and the number of new cases, which is more important, but also the number of hospitalization," said Mellado.