Category: Health Care

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has urged educators and staff to go to the vaccination sites to get their Johnson & Johnson vaccine injections during the sectors’ final week of the vaccination rollout.

In a statement on Monday, the department said the vaccination programme in basic education continued, even after schools went on an early recess last Friday, following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that the country would move to Adjusted Alert Level 4.

The department announced that more than 333 000 teachers and support staff have since been vaccinated since the campaign started on 23 June 2021.

“Phase 1 targeted 300 000 to be vaccinated within the first 10 days of the programme. This target was based on the number of doses allocated of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the sector.

“By the end of day 1 of the sector’s vaccination programme, the Basic Education sector had vaccinated a total of 48 000 of the Phase 1 target. By 01 July 2021, over 100% (300 052) of the Phase 1 target had been met across the nine provinces or within 9 days of commencing Phase 1, [with] a total of 300 052 educators and non-teaching staff had been vaccinated,” the department said.

Additional 289 000 vaccine doses received

The department also reported that the sector has received an additional 289 000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and these enables the sector to reach its overall target of vaccinating 582 564 educators and non-teaching staff.

“The Basic Education sector will continue to administer the remaining doses of the vaccine to cover the remaining 282 512 staff. In addition, support staff from independent schools, food handlers, screeners, cleaners and Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners will be included in the roll out programme,” the department said.

The department reiterated its call to all educators and staff to follow the schedules in each district, in order to ensure a smooth roll-out of the [vaccination] programme.

Hesitancy surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines

Meanwhile, the department said it is aware of hesitancy surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines, and the sector is working closely with teacher unions, School Governing Bodies (SGBs) and other stakeholders to address it.

“The Basic Education sector is engaging experts and leaders of the faith based groups to address vaccine hesitancy in the sector. Getting the vaccine provides you with one layer of protection – you still need to continue wearing a mask, washing or sanitizing your hands and keeping physical distance from others.

“Together, these provide you with a complete package of protection. Vaccination is voluntary – the Basic Education sector will never force you to take it. You can, however, save yourself and help save others by choosing vaccination,” the department said.

The department said the sector vaccination programme will remain open during the week of 5-9 July 2021, where educators and staff can get vaccinated at their nearest vaccination designated site.

Their schools has the information on the nearest vaccination site.

Why getting the vaccines is important to you

• All vaccines used in South Africa have been tested and approved by South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA), an entity of the National Department of Health created by government with the responsibility to regulate health products in the country.

• Getting the vaccine will protect you from severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19.

• When you are vaccinated, your immune system will recognize the virus quickly when you get infected with COVID-19 and prevents you from being severely ill or from dying.

• Get vaccinated, you will be doing it for yourself and your loved ones.

• When we collectively take the decision to get vaccinated, we take a step closer to returning to getting back to life as we knew it.

• Leaders in Government, Teacher Unions, faith-based and other sectors have already received the vaccine.

• Fake news and conspiracy theories are part of all vaccination programmes – always listen to the experts and the scientists.

For more information on the vaccination rollout, call the COVID-19 call centre on 0800 029 999.

Source: South African Government News Agency

ELLIOTDALE – A 35-year-old male from Gusi Administrative area, Mount Plesent Location outside Elliotdale has been arrested last night following the missing person case that is being investigated by the Detectives.

The arrest follows after a 34-year-old woman was reported missing at Elliotdale SAPS beginning of June 2021. It is alleged that the woman went missing while she visited her boyfriend in Elliotdale and never returned home. Thorough investigation led to the arrest of his boyfriend for murdering her in June 2021. Upon investigation Police found out that he murdered his girlfriend and he pointed out the scene of crime where the deceased remains were found. He was immediately arrested and charged for Murder.

The suspect is appearing at Elliotdale Magistrate Court on Tuesday, 06 July 2021.

The District Commissioner Brigadier Ngangema Xakavu said this sends a strong message to perpetrators that we will continue fighting the scourge of Gender Based Violence and Femicide in our area and we will left no stone unturned in ensuring that perpetrators are behind bars and facing the full might of law.

Source: South African Police Service

On Friday 02 July 2021, Sector 2 Commander, Constable Shakoane conducted the Covid-19 awareness campaign at Bela Bela entrance.

Community Policing Forum (CPF) members and Young Civilians on Patrol (YCOP) also supported the campaign that was conducted through a loudhailer.

Children were encouraged to stay at home as they are vulnerable, and urged to avoid unnecessary travelling during this period.

The members of the community were cautioned about the Disaster Management Regulations Act and also advised to go for vaccination.

The pamphlets about child safety were distributed during the campaign including the relevant contact numbers of the station management to report Covid-19 non-compliance.

Source: South African Police Service

A study on vaccine efficacy against COVID-19 variants has shown that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine works better against the Delta variant, and gets better over time with both Delta and Beta variants.

This follows a study conducted where 10 participants received one dose, and 10 participants received two doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine up to eight months.

The study which was completed on 17 May 2021 was presented by South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) CEO, Professor Glenda Gray, during a media briefing on Friday.

According to the study, recipients of Johnson & Johnson vaccine produced strong neutralizing antibodies over the course of at least eight months.

“The study shows that the single shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine works against the Beta and Delta variants at eight months. All the immune response data indicate good immediate and sustained immune response against Delta.

“We don’t need to boost the Johnson & Johnson vaccines just as yet, but we need following up participants to see when the durability in the immune system responds,” Gray said.

Vaccine efficacy

Also presenting laboratory studies on vaccines used in South Africa, Professor Penny Moore, from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), said that a net study of several COVID-19 vaccine trials suggest that neutralising antibody levels, are highly predictive of immune protection from symptomatic COVID-19 infection. It also suggests evidence for neutralising antibodies as a protective correlate for COVID-19 vaccines.

“Neutralising antibodies correlates with vaccine efficacy [and] laboratory studies provide a measurement of how well vaccines will work, complementing clinical studies. Existing laboratory data suggests that vaccines in use in South Africa will work better against Delta than Beta variant,” Moore said.

Plenty vaccines to rollout vaccination programme

On the status of the vaccination rollout programme in the country, Dr Nicholas Crisp said South Africa has received plenty of vaccines to rollout its programme for the next few weeks.

Crisp said in order to scale up the vaccination from 20 000 people currently vaccinating per day to 200 000 and 300 000 people, more vaccination sites are needed to be opened and more people in the remote areas were routinely coming in for vaccination.

“We are already planning for the uptake of the next age of cohorts which is the 40-49, and has seven million people on it. The reason we are targeting age groups, is because there is plenty clinical evidence that age is a major factor more than any factor in keeping people well and out of hospital with severe infections,” Crisp said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

While Gauteng remains the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane has warned that many provinces in the country are almost at red alert as infections continue to increase.

“The trends are clearly showing that other provinces which are currently lagging are going to experience the trend we are seeing in Gauteng, most notably in the Western and the Eastern Cape. What worries us as well, is the positivity rate. If you look at Limpopo, it has almost 42% of positivity rate, which is leading in terms of positivity rates,” Kubayi-Ngubane said.

Briefing the media on government’s efforts in the fight against COVID-19 and the rollout of vaccines on Friday, Kubayi-Ngubane said the COVID-19 situation in the country remains of great concern, as the numbers continue to increase at a very rapid rate.

“In the last 24 hours, there are 21 584 new cases, which is higher than the average number of new cases per day over the seven preceding days measured at 16 916 cases. The positivity testing rate has also increased from 27.6% the previous day to 28.4%.”

Gauteng continues to be the epicentre of new infections with the number of new cases having risen to 12 806 which represents 60% of the total new infections.

“We remain very worried about the rise in hospitalisations, which is putting a lot of strain on the health facilities in Gauteng. The private health hospitals are currently operating at more than 100% capacity and public health hospitals are edging closer to full capacity,” Kubayi-Ngubane said.

She said nationally the third wave numbers have surpassed the first wave peak and are likely to surpass the second wave peak.

The new variant, called the Delta variant, is quickly becoming the dominant variant in the country, replacing both the Alpha variant experienced in the first wave and Beta variant experienced in the second wave.

However, the Minister reminded the public that the Beta variant is still prevalent and spreading.

“An important characteristic of the Delta variant is … those who were previously infected by Beta were immune from reinfection by both the Alpha and Beta variant – it is not the case with the Delta variant.

“This means that those who have had COVID-19 are at a risk of reinfection by the Delta variant,” Kubayi-Ngubane said.

Over 120 000 people vaccinated in last 24 hours

Over 120 000 people were vaccinated in the last 24 hours, with KwaZulu-Natal leading the pack, followed by Gauteng, then the Eastern Cape and Western Cape.

“The vaccination of educators is progressing well and we have so far vaccinated just over 300 000 educators. We had more educators registering in KwaZulu-Natal and followed by Gauteng,” Kubayi-Ngubane said.

A total of 354 504 people aged between 50 and 59 registered for their vaccination when the system opened on Thursday. The group will start receiving their jabs on 15 July 2021.

“In parallel to this process, we are also finalising the details for the commencement of vaccinations of other frontline sectors such as the police, defence, the security cluster and we will provide more details soon,” she said.

Two million Pfizer doses expected in July

The Minister said almost 2.1 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to arrive in July.

She said Pfizer has delivered nearly 4.5 million doses in quarter two and they have committed just over 15.5 million doses in quarter three, of which “we are expecting nearly 2.1 million doses in July”.

“Johnson and Johnson have so far delivered 500 000 early access doses used for Sisonke, 300 000 market doses two weeks ago and 1.2 million doses landed last week. These doses all need to be used by 11 August.

“We are awaiting confirmation for delivery of 500 000 doses (these expire later than the previous doses mentioned), and this makes up the two million to replace those that were lost to the contamination incident.

“We make a clarion call to all those who qualify, to register and vaccinate,” Kubayi-Ngubane said.

The Minister used the opportunity to thank scientists who continue to make world class scientific findings that are helping to fight the pandemic.

She also thanked the healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses and all supporting stuff in health care centres for continuing to be in the forefront of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: South African Government News Agency

In the spirit of Madiba, Cabinet has encouraged South Africans to rise to the challenge and support those in their communities shattered by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We can embrace Madiba’s values and honour his legacy through humanitarian acts and initiatives supporting those hard-pressed by the impact of the virus,” Cabinet said in a statement.

Every year on 18 July, South Africans, together with the global community, honour the former President and international icon, Dr Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, through the celebration of Nelson Mandela International Day.

“In these trying times, we depend on our spirit of national solidarity and selflessness as epitomised by Madiba to see one another through,” Cabinet said.

During Mandela Month, South Africans embrace the chance to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s life for the whole of July.

This gives everyone the opportunity to heed the call to action for people to recognise their individual power to make an imprint and change the world around them.

A global movement for positive change begins with small actions. As each person acts, they fuel momentum toward positive change, raising awareness and expanding the reach of Mandela’s values of fighting injustice, helping people in need and practicing reconciliation.

Source: South African Government News Agency