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KwaZulu-Natal aims to increase vaccination sites

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KwaZulu-Natal will steadily increase its vaccination sites as more vaccines become available. That is the update from the province’s health department as the COVID-19, single-dose, Johnson & Johnson vaccine rollout process kicked off in the province.

The province has more than 160 000 healthcare workers in both private and public facilities. Currently, there are just more than 10 000 available doses at the Prince Mshiyeni Memorial and Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospitals in Durban.

45-year-old Doctor Nerika Maharaj from Amanzimtoti south of Durban, who works in the COVID-19 ward at the Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital,  today made a critical pit stop at the vaccination centre, to be among the first to receive this precious injection just before she started her shift.

Maharaj’s eyes glistened over her double mask. The single mother of three says the vaccine brings hope for the months of pain and trauma that healthcare workers have had to see their patients endure.

“Coming to hospital and seeing patients gasping for air and running out of air, sometimes running out of oxygen, it’s been really traumatic and then once patients get really sick and require ventilation very few actually come off the ventilator. So it has been really sad. We’ve lost so many colleagues, we really support each other. We’ve gotten really close as colleagues in this last year. Nobody else can understand what we’ve been through and seen. We’ve been really waiting for this day.”

The hospital has received 5 040 vaccines of the first batch of 80 000. A further 5 760 will be administered from the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital.

The rollout plan

Provincial Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu says the rollout plan will be modified as supply increases.

“Our plan if it had been able to be implemented as we had planned for we would have been able to finish all our health workers within four days should nothing have happened. However, because of the number of vaccines we are receiving we have had to revise that plan. So, if in the next ten days we get another 10 000 to 15 000 we will then identify three other health facilities. We are likely going to do one in Umgungundlovu, Illembe and if we get a third we’ll see which district has the highest.”

The vaccine centre’s potential for hope is palpable, as nurses and doctors excitedly bumped elbows.

The doctors who were waiting to be vaccinated, reflect on how the pandemic has affected their lives at work and at home.

“It is not over but it’s a glimmer of hope, a lot more people have to be vaccinated for us to achieve herd immunity. It’s the first step in the right direction but we will continue taking every single precaution on a daily basis,” says one of the health professionals.

Another health worker says; “I think it has been one of the worst years of my life, you feel sad for the patients; you worry about getting COVID-19, about passing it to other family members. It has been difficult but I think we’ve got a very good support system in our hospital, and all the doctors and nurses support each other, so in that way, we’ve worked through it together.”

Where it all began

KwaZulu-Natal registered South Africa’s very first COVID-19 case on 5 March 2020 in Hilton. Doctor Halim Dawood was among the team who treated Patient Zero. He reminisces on how it all began.

“When the first patient was admitted, it was a time of fear and anxiety. Once we had plans in place we had to activate our plans very rapidly and thanks to the teamwork of the hospital the volunteer staff who volunteered to come and take care of the patient and to the patient himself who was very accommodating and allowed us to take care of him. He understood the unknowns and the challenges we had in taking care of him in a very restrictive environment with no visitors,  no contact with family etc, so I’m sure it had a significant impact on him psychologically.”

Dr. Carolyn Lee also recounts the staff’s emotional state after receiving news that a coronavirus patient was admitted at the hospital: 


Back at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial, Doctor Elizabeth Spooner heads up the team in charge of overseeing the vaccine administration process. She noted health workers’ excitement in getting the vaccine.

“It’s such a privilege to see all the healthcare workers so excited and wanting a vaccine, it’s just wonderful that we can do something for our healthcare workers. We draw up the vaccine and hand it over to the vaccinators and make sure they are following good clinical practices in the administration of the vaccine.”

Even while receiving the vaccine, several doctors and nurses teared up as they remembered colleagues who lost their lives trying to save their patients. But they say, while the battle against the virus continues, this start, is a step in the right direction.

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