JOHANNESBURG: The SABC and the Gauteng provincial government have partnered to make the headquarters of the public broadcaster, in Auckland Park, a pop-up Covid-19 vaccination site.
The move is seen as a boost to the province's mass vaccination programme, which has already seen more than 2.7 million people take their jabs against Covid-19.
Using the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters will afford all people, over the age of 18, a chance to vaccinate against the virus.
The vaccination site is expected to commence it's work from Thursday.
In a statement, the SABC and the Gauteng grovincial Government said the move was a convenient, as the Auckland Park offices are situated in an area brimming with students from local universities, colleges and higher education institutions, as well as SABC employees, and other people in the area.
The SABC said the pop-up site will operate from Thursday until Saturday, at the Radio Park, on Entrance 4, from 8am to 4pm.
SABC chief executive Madoda Mxakwe said it was a great partnership and stressed that there was a collective responsibility in fighting the Covid-19 virus.
“We have committed our resources, as a public service broadcaster, to ensure that South Africans have one more added facility. It is our wish that, through this partnership, this service will be extended to other SABC offices,” said Mxakwe.
Gauteng’s acting director general Thabo Masebe said it was important to form partnerships to fight the virus and reach as many people as possible, in the mass vaccination drive.
“Part of our strategy, to ramp up the vaccination drive, is to work closely with all institutions that are able to help the government expand its reach.
“The SABC, through its multiple platforms, offers an opportunity to ensure that we empower communities with messages that help them to appreciate the importance of vaccines and that, through vaccination, we are able to minimise severe illness and hospitalisation,” he said.
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