- Phase 2 of the Covid-19 vaccination programme kicked off this week.
- The While there were some operational challenges to begin with, statistics show that as of Day 4 over 170 sites were vaccinating and 117 000 people have received jabs.
- B4SA says that it is vital for those over 60 to register on the Electronic Vaccination Data System in order to receive jabs.
South Africa has enough Covid-19 vaccine doses, and in the next few weeks the focus will turn to scaling up capacity of the national vaccination rollout programme, according to Business for South Africa (B4SA).
The business grouping, which was set up to support government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, on Friday held a press briefing on phase 2 of the vaccination rollout programme. B4SA has set up workstreams, and formed joint strategic oversight committees with government to manage the Covid-19 response.
Phase 2 of the vaccination rollout kicked off earlier this week.
So far statistics show that as at day 4 of the rollout, 117 000 people have been vaccinated and over 170 sites are operational. Only 1.6 million people over the age of 60 have registered on the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS) - which B4SA's Martin Kingston described as "disappointingly low".
There are between 100 000 and 130 000 registrations per day and this has to ramp up, as you need to be registered to receive the vaccine, he explained. A number of registration centres are also being established to get more people to register, Kingston said. Faith-based organisations, civil society and labour have also been engaged with to encourage registration within their communities.
Expectations are for most of the population over the age of 60 to be vaccinated by the end of July.
Apart from getting more people to register in the EVDS, work is being done to get more vaccination sites on board and to finalise funding mechanisms for uninsured patients. It costs R70 without VAT to be administered the vaccine, explained Ronald Whelan, head of Discovery's Covid-19 task team.
Whelan noted that phase 2 had got off to a good start but there have been operational challenges - this week the vaccination site Discovery Place experienced a scheduling glitch and temporarily took in walk-ins on Wednesday. Things have been running like "clockwork" since then, he explained. Whelan also reiterated that the scaling up of capacity must happen quickly.
He added that the procurement of vaccines continues to being handled by government, and it is still not possible for medical schemes to procure vaccines outside of national channels. "The mantra is, 'none of us is safe unless we are all safe.'" For now there are enough supplies, there is no need to procure additional vaccines at this stage, he said.
Operationalising a vaccine site isn't simple, Kingston explained. B4SA outlined a nine-step process, which includes training and the issuing of permits.
B4SA's Lungi Nyathi, who also heads a workstream, explained that the permit process has been expedited by the SA Pharmacy Council - it can take as quickly as 48 hours or as long as 72 hours to complete. Vaccinators also have to go through training - which is electronic and takes a few hours.
Workplaces may also double up as vaccination sites, especially if they have occupational health services, explained Nyathi. There is scope for these sites to also vaccinate family members of employees and nearby communities, especially in mining areas, she said. Most of these sites will come online by the end of May and the beginning of June.
Clicks have already start to do vaccinations, and Dis-Chem and some of Mediclinic's hospitals will start next week.
Walk-ins
On whether walk-ins are being considered, B4SA's Cas Coovadia said this matter is still being tended to. People have walked in at sites, but the outcomes have been both "positive and negative," he said.
"Hospital groups tell us it will be difficult, if not impossible for them to manage walk-ins given that. While hospitals are vaccinating people, they also have to continue doing the normal work, people coming in to see people and so on."
Government is considering walk-ins from a policy perspective, he said. "There are also issues related to the ability of government to manage from a budgetary point of view, [such as] public sector people walking into private sector sites. If that is an open-ended commitment - there are budgetary issues," he said.
"It is something that is high up on the agenda, there are people working on it right now. In the next couple of days I think we would get some resolution to it," he said.