Debbie Minnaar, an assistant teacher at Alma School for mentally and physically disabled children, receives the Covid-19 vaccination at the Pretoria North Community Hall in Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles
The Department of Basic Education has announced that more than 105,000 basic education sector employees were vaccinated this week.
This is across seven provinces as Limpopo and the Western Cape start their vaccination programmes today.
On Wednesday when the vaccination programme began, the department of health recorded 49,776 teachers and staff who received the vaccine while 55,444 people got their injections on Thursday.
“The number of people vaccinated is set to increase significantly when Limpopo and Western Cape start in earnest today. Limpopo Premier Chupu Mathabatha, education MEC Polly Boshielo and Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga will this morning launch the Limpopo vaccination programme at the Pietersburg Hospital,” the department said.
KwaZulu-Natal continues to lead with 32.1% of the target population vaccinated, while Eastern Cape registered 21% of its target population, Free State 21.9%, Mpumalanga 26% and North West 22%.
Northern Cape has recorded 12% while Gauteng was at 11% as of Thursday.
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“These patterns also mirror the trends in the general population. The basic education sector has identified 582,000 educators and staff who are expected to be vaccinated by 8 July 2021” the department said.
More than 2.5 million people in the country had been vaccinated as of Thursday.
On Friday morning, acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane announced that more Johnson & Johnson doses had arrived in the country.
The department assured the sector there would be enough vaccines for everybody in the basic education sector, as initially announced.
It further urged all teachers and staff to follow the schedules in each district in order to ensure the smooth rollout of the programme.
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Meanwhile, the department has announced the Covid-19 vaccine registration for people over 50 years of age will open on 1 July 2021,while the vaccine rollout for this age group is scheduled to start on 15 July.
As the registration opens, the department has urged those over 60 to still get vaccinated.
The phases will run concurrently.
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