Tshwane fears temporary halt of the J&J vaccine roll-out might delay set targets
Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize announced that the ministry was putting a temporary halt on the roll-out of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pending a probe on ‘extremely’ rare blood clot cases that emerged in the United States.
The Tshwane metro fears that the recent halt in the vaccination processes would lead to delays in vaccination targets, leaving hundreds of health workers still unprotected from Covid-19.
The health ministry last week Tuesday announced the halt of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine roll-out as a cautionary measure. This after reports of six women who developed blood clots between 6 and 13 days after vaccination in the States.
This was out of the over six million vaccines that had been administered in the US thus far.
While the department aims at starting phase 2 of the vaccination in May for elderly citizens, Tshwane health MMC Sakkie du Plooy said the vaccination halt would result in delays in the vaccination targets.
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The metro had initially planned that for 1.1-million people to be vaccinated during phase 2, which kicks off 1 May.
But this might not materialise due to the halt.
“Only 25 637 out of 77 000 health workers in Tshwane have been vaccinated thus far,” he said.
“We are disappointed by the disruption to the vaccination programme as many of our health workers were looking forward to getting the jab,” he said.
“The frontline workers will now have to wait longer and take a back seat while the matter is being resolved.”
Du Plooy said the vaccination programme in the region was slow.
“As it stands, we do not have a significant number of health workers vaccinated in phase 1. Many of them still have to get the vaccine, which might see delays in the phase 2 programme because now the focus is still on our health workers,” he said.
“We understand the precautionary measures that have to be taken, but they will have a negative impact on the roll-out targets. Winter is coming and a large number of frontline workers have not been vaccinated, which is really worrisome because many of them are still exposed to the virus.”
The decision by the national government follows shortly after Gauteng Cogta MEC Lebogang Maile earlier this month said that not all of the Tshwane metro’s potential vaccination sites were ready.
His remarks followed a visit to vaccination sites at Saulsville and Atteridgeville.
“Not all ablution facilities were working, but we heard the municipality will fix all the facilities by the time the roll-out starts.”
Du Plooy told Rekord that the metro would fix issues at the multipurpose centre in Atteridgeville.
He also revealed that the metro had not finalised the list of potential vaccination sites as yet.
“We are working with the province to identify sites in each region to ensure that vaccination will be accessible to all who qualify. The final list will be announced once sites have been assessed and approved by the relevant governance structures.”
He encouraged qualifying individuals to register as soon as they can for the vaccine.
The phase 2 vaccination registration was launched last week and residents can register on vaccine.enroll.health.gov.za.
This phase entails essential workers, persons in congregate settings, persons over 60-years and persons over 18-years with co-morbidities to be vaccinated.
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