KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala officially unveiled the Covid-19 vaccine rollout programme in the province, which will see frontline healthcare workers get their dose of the newly acquired Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
This follows the launch of the country’s vaccination programme by President Cyril Ramaphosa and Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize last week. A total of 80 000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine arrived in South Africa. Zikalala, who was accompanied by Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu, received the first batch of the vaccine on Thursday, 18 February, when healthcare workers were being vaccinated at Prince Mshiyeni Hospital in Umlazi. Speaking at the provincial vaccine roll-out launch, Zikalala said the arrival of the vaccine in the province is an important step towards rebuilding lives.
“The vaccine is eagerly awaited in all parts of the provinces and if it was up to us, we would have administered it to all healthcare workers in the province on the same day so that they are all protected. For now, we have to make do with what we have,” said Zikalala.
The Premier urged healthcare workers to take the vaccine, ensuring them that government would never subject them to a vaccine that would be detrimental to their lives. MEC, Simelane-Zulu said the province has laid the groundwork for the vaccine roll-out. “We have a continuous education programme and we are conducting webinars with all our stakeholders, including our traditional health practitioners. We had planned to vaccinate all healthcare workers within four days, but we had to revise the plan according to the amount of vaccines we get. The good thing about Johnson and Johnson vaccine is that it’s a once-off,” said Simelane-Zulu.
Once the province gets all the vaccines it requires the following sectors of the population will be targeted: Public sector healthcare staff (67 644), Medical doctors, dentists, pharmacists, Emergency Medical Services (9292), Interns (390), Nurses (34 279), Non-OSD staff (20 417), Allied health professional (2639), Engineers/artisans (366), Staff providing social services (256), Privately contracted staff working in public sector (14625), Traditional healers (5939), Military health care staff (350), NGO sector staff (6699) and Environmental Health Practitioners (360).
With an estimated 11.3 million people residing in KwaZulu-Natal, the provincial government said it had devised an inoculation plan to reach the majority of its citizens based on guidelines set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Department of Health.
