Even though Mpumalanga has started with its vaccination programme, Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane has warned of a possible Covid-19 third wave. She said this during the launch of the provincial roll-out of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Covid-19 vaccine at Rob Ferreira Hospital on Friday.
The premier, with the MEC for health, Sasekani Manzini, facilitated the event.
The health HOD, Dr Savera Mohangi, was the first person in Mpumalanga to receive the vaccine. A total of 2 000 doses have been delivered to Rob Ferreira and 1 640 doses will be handed over to Witbank Hospital. “Statistics show that our health workers are the most susceptible to contract Covid-19.
We are also preparing for a possible third wave that could be experienced in May. If this happens, we need to have all our health workers healthy and protected. The decision to start with the healthcare workers first was the correct one and the rest of us shall follow. We have also sadly lost 41 of our healthcare workers in the province who have selflessly sacrificed their lives to save others.”
“For the first batch, the Medical Research Council identified Rob Ferreira and Witbank hospitals as the two sites in Mpumalanga to receive the vaccines, because of the number of healthcare workers affected,” she explained.
Mtshweni-Tsipane said the protection of the vaccine against criminals is important in ensuring that the people of the province are successfully vaccinated.
“We will collaborate with the SAPS to provide en-route safety for all vehicles transporting the vaccine from the storage centres to various vaccination sites across Mpumalanga.”
“The J&J vaccines that we have received have a 57 per cent protection against moderate to severe Covid-19 infections. It also has an 85 per cent protection against severe infections and 100 per cent protection against death. I urge the people in the province to register on the Electronic Vaccination Data System. If at least 67 per cent of our people are vaccinated, we should have sufficient herd immunity to prevent further transmission. We can put an end to the pandemic devastation,” she explained.
In planning for the vaccination programme, the province has developed a plan as per the guidelines from the National Health Council. The programme will be rolled out in a three-phased approach, as follows; the first phase which will cover immunisation of all healthcare workers, second phase which will cover essential workers, persons in congregate settings, persons over 60 years of age and persons over 18 years with comorbidities. The third one will cover all persons over 18 years of age.
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“The targeted cohort for phase one will cover the 69 652 health workers across the province. This is inclusive of the public and private health sector,” she said.
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Mtshweni-Tsipane said while the vaccine programme is a proverbial silver lining in the fight against Covid-19, the public must continue to exercise maximum caution.
