Make vaccination compulsory for healthcare workers, says health body

The South African Committee of Medical Deans (SACOMD) and the South African Committee of Dental Deans (SACODD) representing higher education institutions who educate the South African health workforce made the call on Tuesday, September 7.

The institutions consist of the University of Pretoria, Sefako Makgatho University, University of Free State, and University of the Witwatersrand and University of Cape Town, among others.

Chair of SACOMD and dean of the faculty of health sciences at the University of Pretoria, Professor Tiaan de Jager, said the call was a bid to protect the workforce against the Sars-CoV-2 virus.

“This will curtail the spread of the virus among our communities and limit its impact.”

De Jager said vaccination was critical for dental healthcare workers and students exposed to high-level aerosol-generating procedures.

He said the committee was led by scientific evidence, which emerged during the pandemic globally, that:

• The Covid-19 death rate in South Africa was 401 per 100 000 population as of mid-August 2021, placing it at the time among the top 10 countries with the highest Covid-19 death rates globally.
• Covid-19 vaccines had maintained high effectiveness against severe Covid-19, despite mutations.
• Vaccinations are estimated to lower the risk of Covid-19 transmission by 2-2.8 fold.
• Vaccination halves the risk of long Covid-19 (symptoms for longer than 28 days), which can be debilitating and affect individuals’ productivity.
• The higher level of Sars-CoV-2 exposure, including exposure to higher viral load, contributes to healthcare workers being more susceptible to becoming infected, and possibly more likely to develop symptomatic and severe Covid-19.

De Jager said further that studies from South African health facilities reported that about 40% of healthcare workers were infected during the first wave, increasing the risk of their family members being infected by the virus.

“Case studies showed a 48% to 79% reduction in secondary cases in unvaccinated members in those households where the workers had been vaccinated against Covid-19, compared with where others were unvaccinated.”

He said historically, students were required to be vaccinated against the hepatitis B virus, primarily for individual benefit.

“The case for Covid-19 immunisation transcends individual benefit and has major benefits for the good of the broader health facility community, including colleagues and patients whose lives are entrusted to the care of the workers.

“It is a moral imperative for healthcare workers to submit to vaccination against Covid-19. The best schedule of vaccine should be used to maximise protection not only against severe Covid-19 but also that which has the greatest likely impact in protecting against infection and mild-moderate Covid-19.”

De Jager said SACOMD and SACODD urgently appealed that:

• All adults in South Africa must be vaccinated against Covid-19 as soon as possible.
• Covid-19 vaccination should be compulsory for all healthcare workers, including those in training as health professions students in South Africa, also for the safety of patients and the general community.
• There be serious consideration of booster doses for all healthcare workers in South Africa who already received a single dose of the non-replicating vector J&J Covid-19 vaccine.

This follows Tshwane health MMC Sakkie du Plooy raising concerns over those who had not come for vaccinations especially in specific target groups, including frontline workers.

“Many SAPS officers have not been vaccinated, with only 37.8% of police officers in Tshwane receiving vaccinations.”

He said in regards to teachers 60% of them had been vaccinated, while 63.8% of local healthcare workers have received vaccinations.

Du Plooy said it was disappointing seeing these figures as vaccinations started a while back for certain groups.

Du Plooy said to drive up vaccinations in the metro, 11 sites were now open at weekends for vaccinations in every region.

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