The Right2Know Campaign in Gauteng says the Department of Health is failing to effectively rollout the vaccination programme to healthcare workers at the forefront of battling COVID-19.
Chaos erupted at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria on Sunday as hundreds of public and private healthcare workers flocked to the hospital after receiving notifications to go to the facility for their vaccinations.
It’s believed that vaccines arrived late and healthcare workers queued for up to seven hours.
R2K held a picket outside the Department of Health offices in Johannesburg asking for transparency in the vaccine rollout.
“It’s so unfortunate that we experienced the very same thing that we cautioning. Government failed to produce a proper plan that will be able to indicate and give proper direction to citizens in regards to this vaccination process. We saw from the onset that whenever there is no proper plan, things will fall into cracks and there will be chaos. This is exactly what happened. We foresee the health system collapsing,” says R2K Gauteng Coordinator Bongani ka Mthembu.
A look at COVID-19 vaccine rollout in SA with Professor Ian Sanne:
Earlier, Gauteng Health MEC Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi reassured healthcare workers in the province that none of them will be excluded from the national vaccination programme aimed at safeguarding the healthcare system in the province.
The Department of Health confirmed on Sunday that one-third of the 80 000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine received last week has been allocated to healthcare workers in the private sector.
The department also called on healthcare workers to be patient as it tries to overcome short-term challenges such as long waiting times.
The Gauteng government says it aims to eventually vaccinate over 10 million people.
Johnson and Johnson first vaccination in SA:
