Makhura oversees vaccination program in Steve Biko

Gauteng premier David Makhura, accompanied by health MRC Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi, visited the Steve Biko academic hospital on Wednesday to oversee the start of the vaccination programme.

This as the vaccination programme officially commenced around the country on Wednesday morning.

Makhura said Gauteng got 16 800 doses of the 80 000 Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine that arrived at the OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday night.

Makhura said Steve Biko received 5 700 of those vaccines while 11 000 went to Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital.

“We are extremely happy that this day has arrived, because as a county we have been fighting this disease and battling it on different fronts.

“The vaccines are a game changer, but we still have a long way to go,” he said.

Makhura said the province is planning to cover over 200 000 healthcare workers in the first phase so that they can go to the next set of workers such as teachers and the enforcement officers.

“We also want to cover workers who are at risk, the elderly and people who have co-morbidities and then we want to get to the rest of the population.”

Steve Biko CEO Dr. Mathabo Mathebula said it feels like she is “seeing a rainbow after a big storm”.

“This has been one of our prayers to one day find a solution to this problem. For the whole year, we have been fighting this one disease and this is not the only disease we were supposed to be dealing with.

“We are a highly specialised facility and we have other citizens that are looking for other services that are essential but Covid-19 somehow pushed them aside.”

Mathebula said she has been receiving messages from staff as early as 05:00 indicating how excited they were with the arrival of the vaccine.

“The only way to deal with a virus is to vaccinate. There’s no other way. Yes, it is a trial, but it is a trial that has gone through other phases and it has been proven that it does work against Covid-19.

“After my jab now, I already feel that the soldiers against Covid-19 are surrounding me already, I feel so confident. It doesn’t mean that after your first jab you must relax. We still need to continue with the habit of wearing masks, washing our hands and social distancing.”

Gauteng health MEC Dr. Nomathemba Mokgethi said she was feeling fine after she was vaccinated earlier at Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital.

“I was the first one to be vaccinated and I don’t have any side effects; there’s no pain and no swelling, there’s no itching either.”

Mokgethi encouraged those who still have doubts about the vaccine to vaccinate.

“We are losing a lot of patients because of Covid-19. I want to encourage people that when it is their time to get the vaccine, to take it because science shows that when a lot of community members are vaccinated, it means we will have fewer cases.”

Mokgethi said they plan to have one vaccinator vaccinate about 40 people a day.

“We have 808 vaccinators and each must do 40. The 808 vaccinators include those in the private sector.”

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