Vaccinate at the groove? - Riky Rick says government should ‘turn super-spreaders into super-vaxers’

Amid calls for a faster vaccine rollout to curb the spread of Covid-19, musician Riky Rick has suggested a novel approach to tackling the problem.

A surge in infections led to President Cyril Ramaphosa announcing stricter lockdown measures on Sunday, including the banning of all social gatherings for 14 days. There is also a ban on the sale of alcohol for on-site and off-site consumption, and restaurants are closed for sit-ins.

Reacting to the announcement, and the president’s plea for those eligible to get vaccinated, Riky took to social media to suggest government uses promoters  and venues as part of the vaccine rollout.

“Restaurants, event promoters, sports leagues - in other words ‘mass gatherers’ - have huge databases of people who are crying to be vaccinated to continue those activities. Government should be working with these industries on the vaccine rollout.”

He said by doing so, they could turn “super-spreaders into super-vaccinators”.

Attempts by TshisaLIVE to get further comment from Riky were unsuccessful at the time of publishing this story. Comment will be included once received.

The star also ran a poll on his Twitter page, asking his followers if they would get the vaccine.

According to the results, 46.4% said they would and 31.7% said they would not.

Speaking on Sunday, Ramaphosa said the country had become complacent about safety measures, such as wearing masks in public, and gatherings were often super-spreader events.

“We go to social gatherings with a mask on, but take it off once we are inside. We continue to accept invitations to social gatherings and parties, and host our own.

“The difficult truth is that complacency comes at a high price. We must maintain our guard and continue to be careful at all times,” Ramaphosa said.