Anglican Archbishop of Southern Africa Thabo Makgoba has confirmed that vaccination will be mandatory for Anglican clergy. This comes after the Provincial Synod passed a resolution on Friday that its clergy should be vaccinated.
Makgoba says two experts from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases and the Coronavirus Advisory body made presentations on vaccination which contributed to their decision.
He says they also had a debate that lay Anglicans should seriously consider vaccination too.
The synod met from Tuesday until Friday to discuss and debate various socio-economic challenges, the effect of COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy.
Makgoba says there was a general feeling that vaccination was important for clergy as they are in the frontline of giving pastoral care to communities, congregants and the vulnerable.
“Our ruling body, the Provincial Synod, called for the mandatory vaccination of clergy following the charge that I delivered at the beginning of synod. The synod did debate the motion and the concern by some were the fact that being mandatory might actually create a psychological pushback from some clergy, but we are of the same mind that vaccination is important.”
In the video below, Makgoba speaks about the importance of a global vaccination programme ahead of the 47th G7 Leaders Summit that took place in June 2021 in the United Kingdom:
