The City of Johannesburg is running an immunisation campaign in all seven regions and urges residents to go to their nearest clinic.
The City’s Member of the Mayoral Committee for Health and Social Development, Dr Mpho Phalatse, called on residents to visit their nearest clinics to get immunised to avoid health complications.
In a recent media release, residents of Johannesburg, including children, adolescents and adults were urged to access immunisation services offered through the city’s 81 clinics to ensure that everyone is covered. In addition, 13 of these clinics offer extended hours services ranging from 7am to 10pm during the week, and from 7am to 1pm during weekends and on public holidays to ensure increased access.
The city’s clinics, through the Expanded Programme on Immunisation in South Africa (EPI-SA), offer vaccines to prevent death and reduce suffering from childhood diseases, which can be prevented by the immunisation of children and women.
Phalatse said it was important that residents understand the importance of immunisation.
According to Phalatse, immunisation prevents illness, disability and death from vaccine-preventable diseases, including cervical cancer, diphtheria, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), pneumonia, polio, rotavirus diarrhoea, rubella and tetanus. To date, coverage of fully immunised children under one year is above the national target of 95 per cent in the City of Johannesburg.
“The City of Johannesburg has made some headway in addressing barriers to immunisation experienced by communities and healthcare workers. Through the extended service hours at 13 of our clinics, working mothers who would otherwise miss their children’s appointments can now comply with the Expanded Programme on Immunisation in South Africa by visiting our clinics after hours, during weekends as well as on public holidays,” said Phalatse.
The MMC said informal settlements with no existing clinic facilities will also be assisted through the roll-out of mobile clinics in all seven Regions of the City. “This will ensure that all children in those settlements access this much-needed preventive health intervention, preserving the lives not only of these children, but also of those who come into contact with them,” she said.
Phalatse said it was concerning that the immunisation programme still faces serious challenges which undermine the exceptional progress that has been made thus far in the eradication of smallpox and the control of measles and polio, as well as hindering the efforts to achieve targeted levels of immunisation coverage.
She also mentioned that the challenges include lobby groups, such as some religious groups which are against immunisation; under-utilisation of immunisation services by the community and defaulters and working parents (especially mothers), as well as accessibility of immunisation services to sustain current rates of immunisation coverage.
Phalatse said though the city’s 2017 measles immunisation campaign was met with resistance from some religious groups because of religiously impermissible ingredients in the vaccine, both the Jamaitul Ulama South Africa and the Muslim Judicial Council rallied behind government, providing leadership and guidance to their followers around the use of vaccines for the preservation of life. “The city will continue to engage all special interest groups to jointly find ways around this sensitive matter. The health of our children is in our ability to put them first.”
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