Staff Reporter
Free State Education MEC Tate Makgoe is urging all teachers and non-teaching staff in schools across the province to come forward for vaccination when the programme kick offs this week.
Makgoe and his health counterpart Montseng Tsiu will officially launch the provincial vaccination for teachers and non-teaching staff campaign on Wednesday morning at Gonyane Primary School in Phahameng, Bloemfontein.
“Vaccines are a vital tool in our fight against COVID-19,” said Makgoe in a statement.
“It is crucial that we avoid any further disruptions to our school calendar, as our learners are already suffering serious learning losses from the past year,” he added.
Makgoe said the impact of the learning time lost due to the disease will be felt by learners and the economy for many years to come.
Teachers and non-teaching staff in the country are expected to receive the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) single dose vaccine for COVID-19 as the government seeks to expand the inoculation programme.
To date, the country has only vaccinated healthcare workers and people over the age of 60.
In total, just over two million people have been vaccinated, a far cry from the anticipated target of 67 percent of the country’s population of nearly 60 million.
South Africa’s vaccination has moved at a snail’s pace since inception.
The first vaccine purchased by the country, AstraZeneca, was found to be ineffective to the local strain of the coronavirus and over two million doses were given to other African countries.
The roll-out of the J&J vaccine in the country was delayed by several weeks following fears that some batches of the drug could have been contaminated in the United States.
Over 300 000 doses in South Africa were eventually found to be contaminated and thrown away.
“Vaccinating our teachers will reduce the risk of them becoming sick and make our schools safer, giving us the confidence to return all our schools to normal timetabling,” said the MEC for education.
He urged all teachers and non-teaching staff to participate to assist in making schools safer by getting vaccinated.
All teachers and staff members employed by the government do not need to register for the vaccination as all their details are already captured on the Persal System which processes their salaries.
The province, which is in the grip of the third wave of COVID-19, has set up 29 vaccination sites.
The Free State now has a total of 109 934 cumulative cases after recording 520 new cases yesterday.