Tahoe sets out to debunk the myths about Covid-19 vaccine

Tahulela Patient Lehaha, known as Tahoe, is an oncology nurse at the Polokwane Provincial Hospital who wants to debunk the myths, uncertainty, and fear about the Covid-19 vaccine.

Tahoe has just had her shot of the vaccine and said that she was hopeful that it would protect herself, as well as all the immune-sensitive children she looks after at the hospital’s cancer ward. “I am relieved that I have finally received my vaccine against the coronavirus,” she said. “I am confident that this will go a long way in protecting me, my patients and everyone else.”

Tahoe told Limpopo Mirror that she had been careful to take every preventative measure put in place by the National Department of Health, but that she still feared that she might contract the virus somehow and infect her young patients.

“The fact that I have been vaccinated doesn’t mean that I am going to start living recklessly and stop taking preventative measures,” she said. “I still wear my mask all the time, keep a social distance, sanitise and regularly wash my hands with water and soap. I am still extra-careful, so that I do not transfer the virus to other people.”

She said she had read many reports on the myths about the Covid-19 vaccine and just wrote them off as untrue. “All those myths never stopped me from stepping forward and getting vaccinated,” she said. “Since I received a jab last week, I have had no side effects. Therefore, to all people out there, I would like to say that there is really nothing to be scared of, as the vaccines are currently the best way of curbing this pandemic.”

During President Cyril Ramaphosa’s last address to the nation, he said that, since the vaccine programme was launched almost a fortnight ago, more than 67 000 health workers across the nation had been vaccinated, as these workers were considered to be on the frontline of the fight against Covid-19.

Date:14 March 2021

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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