Deputy Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, has been vaccinated at the Doctor George Mukhari Academic Hospital, north of Pretoria. The vaccination centre at the hospital is the second one besides the one at the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg.
Both centres were opened on Tuesday.
The number of vaccination sites has been increased from 17 to 49 in order to give more healthcare workers access to them.
Healthcare workers that have received the vaccination include Rehette Greyling who works in a COVID ward at the George Mukhari Academic Hospital.
Greyling says she will now carry out her responsibilities with the confidence that she is protected against the coronavirus.
“I am very happy that I got it finally. Very happy and it’s fine. I am in COVID ICU. So, it’s just for that extra protection, so that we know we are a little bit protected in treating our patients.”
Today the Deputy Minister Dr Joe Phahla accompanied by MEC @DrMokgethi got his jab for COVID-19 vaccine at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital Sisonke Vaccination Site. #ichoosevaccination pic.twitter.com/HUOKaFFgnp
— Gauteng Health (@GautengHealth) March 3, 2021
Students to work with healthcare workers
The Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University is a partner in running the vaccination centre at the Doctor George Mukhari Academic Hospital. The university’s Acting Vice-Chancellor, Eunice Seekoe, says they will assist by providing students to work with healthcare workers in administering doses of the vaccine.
“Because we are a Health Sciences University, we’ve got students in different fields of professions. So, our students can be trained because from second year, students are already trained in health sciences. They understand the issues of the virus. They understand the vaccine and they are also trained on how to give injection and how to manage situations like this. So, about a thousand to 2 000 students can be prepared and so that they can contribute to becoming vaccinators.”
George Mukhari Academic Hospital Chief Executive Officer, Dr Richard Lebethe, says there is no hesitation on healthcare workers that are being vaccinated.
“So, as we speak now, the majority of the staff here have grown towards the vaccination and there are those that still need to understand and find their way around it and we’ll give them that space to make decisions. It’s more so that we are still in the research phase. So, they still have time to decide on where they need to fit.”
Healthcare workers urged to make appointments
Meanwhile, Gauteng Health MEC, Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi, has called on healthcare workers to refrain from arriving at vaccination centres without appointments and demand to be vaccinated. She says this puts unnecessary pressure on the system.
Dr Mokgethi’s call comes after some healthcare workers arrived at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital and randomly demanded to be vaccinated.
“We want to allay the health workers’ anxiety that you will be vaccinated and it will depend on how many doses that we will be getting, but as Gauteng, we will try as much as possible to make sure that we vaccinate as quickly as possible. For those provinces that are having a low uptake, we will take their doses and come and vaccinate in Gauteng.”
Phase I of vaccination rollout
Deputy Minister Phaahla says the current vaccination process in the country is a subsection of Phase 1 of the vaccine rollout programme. He says the rollout of the actual phase one programme will start before the end of this month.
“In terms of Johnson and Johnson and others, including Pfizer, which is already registered and the others, we are talking now in terms of signing agreements to bring millions of doses, so that somewhere before the end of this month we will now be receiving the actual contracted doses. These ones, which we are using here, we are actually receiving them for free from Johnson and Johnson, because they are part of what remained in their final studies.”
Dr. Phaahla further says South Africa is negotiating with China, Russia, and other countries where their vaccines have been approved to assist the country.
