File
The vaccination of 582 000 education sector employees would begin on Wednesday and run through to 8 July.
This was announced on Saturday by the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, following a special meeting of the Council of Education Ministers.
At the same time, she said that “we believe that schools must remain open,” adding that the Department was “not insensitive to the concerns raised about the rising infections.”
She said the CEM considered the latest reports from the Department of Health, and a plan for the vaccination programme was also presented at the meeting.
“The vaccination programme (of all Persal Staff) will start on Wednesday, 23rd June 2021, and it will continue until Thursday, 8th July 2021, a day before schools close to mark the end of the second school term,” Motshekga said.
Motshekga said teachers appointed by school governing bodies and those employed by independent schools registered in terms of the Schools Act, will also get the jab.
The Minister said that after consultations with the Department of Health it was agreed that several other groups would be included in the vaccination programme.
These include staff transporting children to and from school, staff supporting feeding schemes, those who do remote learning programmes and staff of teacher unions.
Also included are contract staff who provide security, cleaning and other functions at school.
Motshekga said a strict registration process will be followed and “no on-site” registration will take place.
She also noted that there are also exclusion criteria, “which means that there are some people, who may not qualify to be vaccinated.”
These may include, but not limited to “any person who had contracted COVID-19 in the past 30 days; any person who was vaccinated using another vaccine (Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson, under Sisonke); or any person who had received a flu vaccine in the past 14 days.
The Minister also noted that “vaccination is voluntary, but highly recommended,” adding that over the next two weeks their clarion call to the school community is to “drop all, and vaccinate.”
