POLOKWANE – Today (August 27) is the last day you can get vaccinated at the Tshwane University of Technology’s Polokwane campus.
The campus opened its doors to the public on Wednesday to serve as a Covid-19 vaccination site for three days.
The Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS) opened vaccinations for people 18 years and older last Friday, allowing the department to open up more vaccination sites at institutions of higher learning as part of its vaccine rollout plan.
Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba vaccinated the first few people at the vaccination site which included the vaccination of the student representative council president, Abby Nkuna.
Ramathuba says it was important for her department to find a way of encouraging young adults to vaccinate where they feel comfortable.
“Our young people don’t like to visit hospitals and clinics, as these are associated with sickness and we needed to find a way to get them to vaccinate at a place where they are comfortable and what better place than on campus. When dealing with older people, most of them are visiting hospitals on a monthly basis for treatment so they don’t see it as a daunting environment. It was important for us to get to this particular generation so we partnered with the institution of higher learning to open sites on campus.”
Nkuna said it is critical as a student leader to lead by example and by getting her jab she hopes to motivate students and staff alike to be vaccinated.
“We need to actively find ways to get back to normalcy and by vaccinating we are taking a step in the right direction. We want to get back to physical learning, attend sports gatherings and to be able to gather as young people. By vaccinating we are taking a step in that direction.”
Campus rector Walter Tshamano said the importance of allowing the campus to operate as a vaccination site is that students have many challenges in terms of online learning and need to get back in class for contact learning.
“As an educational institution, our mandate lies with providing an environment that is conducive for learning and teaching but we can not do so if it is unsafe. By allowing our students and the direct community accessibility to the vaccination site we are actively contributing to the attainment of herd immunity.”
Tshamano emphasised that the vaccination site is open for the entire community. Students and those present were eager to be jabbed, as within the first hour of openings more than 100 people had been vaccinated.
