The South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) has welcomed government’s decision to prioritise journalists in the ongoing vaccine rollout programme to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.  

This follows an announcement on Monday by government that journalists will be next in line to receive their shots, once media houses submit employee information to the Government Communications and Information System.

In January this year, Sanef made an impassioned plea to the National Coronavirus Command Council for journalists to be on the list of essential workers and be prioritised in the second phase of the rollout.

“Journalists, as designated frontline workers, have risked their lives every day for the past 16 months, working throughout the pandemic as part of their responsibility to the public. Even during the different peaks of the pandemic, they have not had the option to suspend work or work from home because of the nature of their work and the critical service they provide. They have traversed the country, going to hospitals, clinics, vaccination sites, mass rallies, press conferences etc to reflect on the pandemic, in service to the country to ensure that the public is adequately informed,” Sanef said.

The forum is urging all in the media sector to vaccinate to allow government to focus on the next priority sectors.

Sanef said it was appreciative of government’s decision to vaccinate all categories of media workers and its focus on the media as a sector.

Details about the vaccination in the sector will soon be revealed.