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Teachers urged to get Covid-19 jabs as vaccination deadline looms

Teachers waiting to be vaccinated at the KaNyamazane teachers centre, Mpumalanga.
Teachers waiting to be vaccinated at the KaNyamazane teachers centre, Mpumalanga.
Image: Mandla Khoza

With two days remaining until the deadline to complete inoculations for teachers and support staff, the department of basic education is calling on teachers to visit vaccination centres and get their Covid-19 jabs.

On Monday, the department said vaccinations are continuing even after school holidays were pushed forward due to an increase in Covid-19 infections in the country.

The vaccination of teachers was launched on June 23 at the Rabasotho community centre in Thembisa, Gauteng. The deadline for vaccinations set by the department is July 8.

Teachers and support staff are receiving the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine, which is administered in a single dose.

The department said 333,000 teachers and support staff have received their jabs since launching the vaccination campaign.

“Phase 1 targeted 300,000 to be vaccinated within the first 10 days of the programme. This target was based on the number of J&J doses allocated to the sector.

"By the end of day 1 of the sector's vaccination programme, basic education had vaccinated 48,000 of the phase 1 target,” the department said. 

The department has 282,512 vaccine doses remaining before it meets its overall target of 582,564 vaccinations by the end of the week. 

Speaking at Seemahale Secondary School in Botshabelo, in the Free State, during an oversight visit to monitor the vaccination of teachers last week, minister Angie Motshekga said early school closures would not hamper the department’s plans.

“The announcement that schools close on Friday does not mean schools close on Friday. Teachers should come as scheduled. We don’t want to continue with vaccinations next term. We want to be done with vaccinations by Wednesday next week,” she said. 

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