Gauteng health still implementing vaccination rollout

Gauteng Department of Health has clarified that it is still implementing the Early Access Study vaccination rollout.

This is after reports emerged that the first trial to vaccinate healthcare workers across the province was experiencing some hiccups as thousands queued for hours only to be turned away.

Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) member, Professor Jeffrey Mphahlele noted that there is a possibility that more vaccination centres will have to be opened.

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Meanwhile, the department has cleared up the matter and advised healthcare workers against showing up at vaccination sites to get a jab without registering.

The department further explained that 5,214 healthcare workers have been vaccinated in the province as of Monday after receiving 16,800 of the 80,000 Johnson & Johnson (J&J) doses last week.

“These were allocated to two study sites at Steve Biko Academic Hospital (5,720 doses) and Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (1, 080) doses.

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“It should be noted that 5,571 of these are allocated to private sector (5,030 hospital groups and 541 to general practitioners). Other vaccination sites across the province will be activated when more vaccines are delivered in the coming weeks.”

Health workers were further urged to register on the Electronic Vaccine Data System (EVDS) portal in order to ensure they can participate in the vaccination programme.

Here is how the registration process works:

Step 1

You will be required to provide your ID number or passport number in order to register on the EVDS. You can access the portal on a cellphone or computer by clicking here.

Step 2

The system will require healthcare workers’ general information like their names, date of birth, gender, email address and cellphone number.

Step 3

This step requires employment and medical aid information. This includes information on the primary employer, job title and whether the healthcare worker interacts directly with patients or not.

Step 4

In this step, healthcare workers will need to provide details on which province they reside and work in, including information on their work address.

Step 5

In the final section of the process, you will be required to accept the terms and conditions that come with registering on the portal. These terms and conditions relate to the privacy policy of the EVDS.

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