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The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) welcomes the update by the Minister of Health, Dr Zwelini Mkhize, on the SARS-COV-2 vaccine rollout strategy. 

In the update given by the Minister this morning, he announced that South Africa will receive 1 million doses in January and 500 000 more doses in February from the Serum Institute in India (SII). These doses will be given to healthcare workers both in the public and private sector to protect them against the virus. 

As NEHAWU, we are elated by this announcement and we hope that government will continue to work extra hard to secure more vaccines. We applaud the update from the Minister and encourage him to continue to give more updates to the public and workers in order to help with the anxiety that has engulfed the country. 

As a union organising in the healthcare sector will work hand in hand with government to ensure that frontline workers are vaccinated and that corners are not cut in the process. Furthermore, we will monitor the process with hawk eyes to ensure that it runs smoothly for the benefit of our members and workers. 

NEHAWU calls on the Department of Health to convene an urgent meeting with all trade unions organising in the healthcare sector to discuss the rollout plan and a system that will be used to distribute the vaccine to healthcare workers. This is an important process that must be free of mistakes and glitches. As NEHAWU, we are raring to partake in the process and we are more than prepared to assist the department in undertaking the vaccination of healthcare workers. 

The impending arrival of vaccines for frontline workers should not breed complacency. We appeal to our people to continue to exercise and follow best practices and ways to avoid getting infected by the coronavirus including staying at home, observing social distance, wearing masks that covers both the mouth and nose, and washing hands with soap for 20 seconds or using alcohol based sanitisers. 

Issued by NEHAWU Secretariat