Pensioners from the Thembisile Hani Local Municipality in Mpumalanga have turned out in their numbers to register for the Electronic Vaccine Data System (EVDS) in Verena.
This is part of the Health Department’s preparation for the roll-out of the second phase of the vaccination programme targeting health workers and people over 60.
Close to 17 000 healthcare workers in the province have been vaccinated in the first roll-out. The data from the system will assist the department to allocate the vaccines to the relevant service points. Many of the senior citizens say they can’t wait to get vaccinated.
One senior citizen says, “We are also afraid of COVID-19, that is why we are here in numbers. We are saying the government should help us as promised. When they say a vaccine has been found we were happy because with the mask we remove them sometimes. So with the vaccination, we are going to be fully protected from the pandemic. ”
Meanwhile, The Western Cape Health Department has encouraged young people to assist senior citizens to register for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Provincial Health Minister, Nomafrench Mbombo, says they have embarked on numerous campaigns to encourage the elderly to register. These include visits to pension paypoints, taxi ranks and equipping health workers with mobile devices to assist those in rural areas.
Mbombo was speaking during a weekly online briefing. She says “If you look at the numbers, in the Western Cape where we are supposed to register and vaccinate about 750 000 older persons but last time I checked we were below 200 000.”
