Health

(a) Since 17 May until 19 July, 819 203 people were vaccinated over the period of 8 weeks which translates to 102 400 vaccinations done per week. The Department applied a scale up approach to ensure maximum capacity can be achieved and sustained to administer 150 000 vaccinations per week, vaccine supply dependent. The Department was able to achieve this target during the week of 12 – 16 July.

(b) The Department has identified several areas where there is low registration and uptake of vaccination. We are working with a range of partners on innovative initiatives through which we can take vaccines to the vulnerable communities, making vaccination easier accessible for them. In addition to the various outreaches and community mobilization drives, this week saw the introduction of several other out-of-the-box ideas being implemented and reaping great rewards.  

               These include: 

• Weekend vaccinations in dedicated areas; 
• “Boots on the Ground drives” where mobile pop-up vaccination stations are set up; 
• Repurpose the Mobile Wellness bus’s function, which is used for our school health programmes, to do outreach vaccinations to vulnerable outlying communities; 
• Partnering with the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) to assist with registration and vaccinations at BOXER stores; and 
• Working with the Cipla Foundation to deploy innovative, movable vaccination stations into various local communities  
• Partnering with farming communities, such as in Theewaterskloof, to assist farm workers with registration and also being vaccinated 
• Active mobile outreaches in Zoar and Amalienstein resulting in 80% of over 60s registering 
• Vaccination outreaches in Friemersheim, Rheebok, Brandwag and Hartenbos enabled smaller communities to be vaccinated 
• Red Dot Taxis are assisting with transport for those in far outlying rural areas 
• Bedridden patients are receiving their vaccinations at home 
• Onsite assistance to register is now available at all sites 
• More private sites are now online, both in Rural and Metro 
• Opening the biggest mass vaccination site in the Province at the CTICC 
• Health interns alongside, Community Health workers and Neighbourhood watch members partnered for a community door to door registration drives

        The innovative initiatives have already had a positive impact, not only on increase numbers but also impacted positively on our clients’ experiences when going to any of these sites or outreaches.

       (c) Vaccines are procured centrally via the National Department of Health and supply to the provinces is therefore dependent on national procurement processes.

   i) Resources: Experienced highs and lows in terms of the number of vaccines allocated to the province. This is based on national vaccine access patterns. The province has not yet been able to sustain its maximum capacity (in excess of 30 000 per day) in the vaccination programme because throughput is limited by vaccine supply.

ii) Staff: The 3^rd wave of Covid-19 has resulted in some staff members having to quarantine or isolate.This has had some impact on vaccine rollout but because the province is not yet at full capacity in terms of the vaccine rollout programme, this impact has been minimal and there has thus far been no interruption to the vaccination services. The Department also made provision for addition staff maintained on contract from the previous waves to assist with vaccinations, COVID and non-COVID related health services.

iii) Equipment:  In terms of vaccine commodities, there is a global stock challenges on 1ml syringes which are required for the vaccine administration and 2ml syringes were supplemented when stock-outs occurred. Currently, due to unrest in KZN, there has been a delay in transporting ordered 1ml syringes from Durban Harbour.  These syringes arrived in the province on 19 July and is currently being distributed.