Prepare for some teething problems on first day of vaccine rollouts

Vaccination sites across the country will be opening their doors today for 60 year old + residents of South Africa and while some places have said they are ready, others are expected to have teething problems.

The Gauteng department of Health yesterday confirmed it was all systems go for phase two of the vaccination rollout programme targeted at vulnerable groups who are 60 years and older.

Gauteng Premier David Makhura as well as MECs will join healthcare workers in the province at various medical and non-medical facilities as the country kick- starts phases one b and two of the vaccination rollout programme today.

Kwara Kekana the MEC of Gauteng Health confirmed “291 311 elderly people were registered for vaccinations, we are not sure as to how many elderly people have been booked for vaccination tomorrow. The booking was done nationally through the Electronic Vaccine Data System (EVDS).”

Kekana said the elderly would receive their messages before going to their respective sites.

“They have not received the confirmation messages but they will receive messages. This was done by NDoH through the EVDS system,” she noted.

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She added 61 600 vaccines were allocated for the completion of the Sisonke protocol for health care workers.

The number of vaccinations completed under the Sisonke Protocol on Saturday evening was 478 452.

However, there may be some kinks in the system, Gauteng shadow health MEC Jack Bloom warned in a statement yesterday.

“Expectations have been raised about a mass rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations for over-60s from 17 May, but few people in this category in Gauteng will receive it this week as there are only 24 public health sites to be set up for the Pfizer vaccine,” he said

Bloom added that Khathu Rasilingwane a DA councillor visited 12 designated vaccination sites in Ekurhuleni and allegedly found only one – the Alberton Civic Hall – was fully ready to start today.

“The following sites were not even aware that they were supposed to do the vaccinations: Barcelona clinic, Bedfordview clinic, Spartan clinic and Simunye clinic,” he said.

Kekana said the health department drew a few lessons from the Sisonke programme that also began with two facilities in Gauteng.

“Not all vaccination sites will be activated at the same time, however sites were identified and approved with regards to compliance for when they are activated,” she noted.

The Northern Cape Province however told a different story, according to the Portfolio Committee on Health, with capacity challenges diminishing the province’s readiness for phase two of the vaccination programme.

“We are concerned that the province reported that they have about 2400 nurses to service the entire province,” committee chair Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said.

“While we welcomed the assurance that this represented a net increase as the province only had 1700 nurses last year, we were concerned that this might negatively impact the ability to effectively implement the clearly planned vaccination programme.”

Meanwhile, in the Western Cape, Premier Alan Winde was optimistic.

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“The Western Cape Government has put in place a comprehensive vaccine rollout plan to ensure that we are ready for the mass vaccination programme,” Winde said.

“Ensuring that our vaccination sites are prepared is essential to achieving our goal of vaccinating as many people as possible in the coming months.”

Winde said it was is important to note that the vaccination sites will not all be operational at once but will be brought online gradually as more vaccines become available.

“Some sites will also be operational on a rotational basis and not each day. This will be communicated to the communities they serve,” said Winde.

Vaccine delivery to the Western Cape is on a weekly basis with the first 30 420 vaccines arriving this week, for the commencement of phase 2 next week.” – asandam@citizen.co.za