After months of insisting people register before they receive the Covid-19 vaccine, the Eastern Cape health department, which has only inoculated 146,151 people, is now encouraging walk-ins.
This means anyone aged 60 and older can go to any vaccine site without registering on the Covid-19 registration portal.
The move comes after there were complaints of people waiting weeks for text messages confirming their appointments for the jab.
With the Eastern Cape racing against time to vaccinate the 4.5-million people it has targeted to achieve herd immunity, Bhisho is employing a different strategy.
Provincial health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said they wanted to vaccinate as many people as possible.
He said phase two of the rollout was targeted at senior citizens and they were hoping to vaccinate 700,000 people aged 60 and older.
“Nobody will be turned away unless for medical reasons, [for instance if] one is on a certain medication that can put one at risk, or if a person is sick with flu — then they would be advised to return [after recovery],” he said.
Kupelo said when vaccinating unregistered people, health-care workers would self-register them and run a clinical assessment to check if they qualified before inoculating them.
Kupelo said once the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was given the green light, more people would be inoculated.
The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority has not received a report from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the use of the J&J vaccine, which has delayed its rollout.
“So far, 146,151 people have been vaccinated, with the Buffalo City metro inoculating 41,658 — the highest number in the province — while Nelson Mandela Bay has reported vaccinating 33,189 people,” Kupelo said.
To fast-track the vaccine rollout, the health department has added more sites and hopes to have 1,800 vaccine sites throughout the province.
The Bay, a problematic Covid-19 area, had 19 sites, he said.
As of Wednesday night, the metro had 834 active cases.
The newly added sites in the Bay are at Kariega Provincial Hospital, Tamboville Community Hall, Gqeberha Provincial Hospital, the old rent office in Zwide, the Despatch Town Hall, Kariega Town Hall, Walmer Town Hall, Nelson Mandela University main campus, and a hall in the Linton Grange and Kabega area.
Clicks at Walmer Park, Sunridge Park and Kabega Park , as well as St George’s and the Dis-Chem at Baywest, are also administering the vaccine, but to those who have registered.
Workers’ union Nehawu welcomed the ramping up of the vaccination programme with the addition of more vaccine sites in the Bay, but voiced concerns that nurses would be taken from understaffed clinics to the new sites.
Nehawu provincial secretary Mlungiseleli Ncaphayi said the union supported the government’s plan, but feared nurses would be taken from the already understaffed clinics and hospitals.
“Nurses are overworked as it is.
“They have been dealing with Covid-19 and did not get any breathing space,” Ncaphayi said.
“Nurses have not received any benefits and allowances, but continue giving and sacrificing themselves for the community.
“The department is not doing its part to appreciate that.”
Asked about Nehawu’s concerns, Kupelo said: “We are noting the concerns being raised and we are going to use the appropriate platforms to engage with the concerned unions.”
Bay public health political boss Lance Grootboom said the spike in active cases at old age homes, frail care facilities and retirement villages was concerning, as most senior citizens had comorbidities.
The spike was caused by visitors, he said.
“One frail care centre has reported 12 positive cases during this new wave alone.”
Some people had visited old age homes despite knowing they had tested positive for the coronavirus, Grootboom said.
“In the process, they are posing a greater risk to the residents in these facilities.”
Vanessa Smith, head of resident services at the Echo Foundation, which operates 10 facilities for the elderly in the Bay, said they had noted a spike in new cases.
“We understand they [residents] need the affection and visits to know they have not been forgotten, but families need to take extra care and sanitise whenever they are around them.”
HeraldLIVE
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