Johnson and Johnson
The Eastern Cape Health Department will begin the rollout of the province's vaccination programme on Thursday after receiving an allocation of over 6000 Johnson and Johnson vaccines.
The first consignment of 80 000 vaccines arrived in the country on Tuesday, with the government saying that a further 500 000 doses are due soon.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, were among the first to receive the jab in Khayelitsha in Cape Town on Wednesday.
Eastern Cape Premier Lubabalo Mabuyane has meanwhile welcomed the arrival of the doses that would first be used to vaccinate some of the province's health workers.
The doses were delivered to the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital and Livingstone Hospital in Port Elizabeth, according to the Eastern Cape Health Department.
"The Premier wants to appreciate the fact that the medical school at Walter Sisulu University and Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital played a vital role in the trial of this vaccine,” said the Premier’s spokesperson, Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha.
He said they are also happy that the J&J vaccine has the efficacy rate that it has to deal with the South African variant of the Covid19 virus.
But, the vaccine rollout comes amid the Eastern Cape Department of Health issuing a directive to terminate all Covid19 contracts.
Khaya Sodidi, of the nursing union Denosa, who said they would be closely monitoring the vaccine rollout, expressed his “disappointment” at this decision.
In a circular to senior Provincial Health Department Officials, acting director-general, Dr Sibongile Zungu, informed that all Covid19 contracts would be terminated at the end of March.
“You are therefore requested to bring the contents of this draft circular (circular no.5 of 2021) to the attention of all affected individuals as a matter of urgency,” she wrote.
DA MPL, Jane Cowley, said in a statement that the impact of this has already been felt by 331 healthcare workers at the VW-sponsored Dr Elizabeth Mamisa Chabula-Nxiweni Field Hospital in Nelson Mandela Bay, which is slated for closure.
“This move is not only very short-sighted but dangerous. There is no comprehensive vaccine rollout plan in place for the province, and all indications are that a third and possibly even fourth wave of infections is likely,” she said.
Sodidi told Algoa FM News that Denosa would also be taking up the campaign around this issue.
"This is unfortunate because we feel they must remain to continue working. When they started working they didn't go to Covid19 wards, they were sent to general wards because there is a shortage all over hospitals in the province," he said.
Sodidi explained that the affected healthcare workers include nurses who were unemployed and sitting at home, but were later contracted by the Provincial Health Department to assist in the fight against Covid19.
