Pretoria - Deputy Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla alongside Gauteng MEC for Health Nomathemba Mokgethi have urged medical professionals to register for vaccination as the Gauteng province opened its fourth vaccination site.
Phaahla was among the first people to get his jab at the George Mukhari Academic Hospital vaccination station set up at the adjacent Sefakho Makgatho Health Sciences University facility.
Phaahla following the brief observation period after getting vaccinated said although he was anxious about the whole procedure he was in much higher spirits and was yet to experience any side effects.
He said he had also been comforted by the fact that MEC Mokgethi who received her shot at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, two weeks prior, had not experienced any severe side effects.
“I must admit that I was very anxious but the MEC assured me that after inoculation she did not feel anything like dizziness, fever and other mild side effects. We just don’t want to mislead people that we will all react the same way.”
“With all vaccinations and medications from time to time, we react differently even if you haven’t had a reaction before because this is a new substance to deal with this virus.”
Despite this caution, Phaahla said that the vaccines were safe and had been tested and also urged medical professionals to register themselves to get vaccinated.
The opening of the George Mukhari Academic Hospital and the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital vaccination sites brings the total number of vaccination sites in the province to four.
The first two were opened at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Tshwane and Chris Hani Baragwanath on February 17.
Mokgethi said although in the beginning the sites usually started off slowly due to registration and internet problems the following day in most cases went better.
According to Mokgethi, the Gauteng province had managed to inoculate and use all the doses allocated to the province along with the additional 3 000 doses sent to Steve Biko Academic Hospital.
She added that both sites had managed to finish vaccinations within just 9 days ahead of the 14-day target set.
“I’m very happy and appreciative to all the vaccinators for putting in the long hours, making sure everyone that is registered and has a voucher is able to access the vaccination.”
“Charlotte Maxeke Hospital launched yesterday and everything went smoothly and we’re confident with the current doses we will be able to finish them on time.”
Pretoria News