Health-care workers who will be first to be inoculated when the Covid-19 vaccine is rolled out across the country are divided on whether to get the jab. Some are ready to get the shot but others say they won’t, over safety fears.
The government will not force anyone to take the Covid-19 vaccine but health minister Zweli Mkhize told parliament last week that it was the government’s wish that all citizens took the shot. He said vaccines are not mandatory but the community needed to understand that taking the vaccine is for their benefit.
For *Nandi, 31, a nurse at a private hospital south of Johannesburg who contracted Covid-19 last year, getting the jab is not on her mind at the moment. She said the hasty approach in the making of the Covid-19 vaccine had triggered doubt among some of her colleagues.
“We are divided about this. Some of us just want to get it over and done with and some, like me, are sceptical about it. I have many questions about this vaccine issue. I personally don’t want to be vaccinated. I feel like it took such a short period of time for it to be developed. Yes, people are dying in Africa but we are not even 2% of the population but we are the centre of focus. I’m not a medical expert but I know any virus can be contained and treated without a vaccine.”
But a doctor at a public hospital in Ekurhuleni who asked not to be named said he’d like to be first in line when the vaccine becomes available at his facility. His excitement about the vaccine is mostly influenced by the traumatic scenes he has seen in his wards.
“I’ve been a doctor for five years and I have never lost so many patients within such a short space of time. I’ve lost colleagues and family members and I don’t want my own family to go through that. I trust the science and the work that our government has done during these trying times. I don’t say our government would jab us with poison because some cabinet ministers have also fallen sick,” he said.
Another health worker at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital said the vaccine should not be imposed on workers but rather be offered as an option.
“Government should not force us to take it because our immune systems are different. Many of us are concerned about being forced to take it. I know I won’t take it because of my bad history with the flu vaccine, which made me very sick when I got flu. So I don’t know how my body will react when I take the Covid vaccine,” said the employee who is also a union representative at the hospital.
She added that most public hospitals have not discussed how the vaccine will be rolled out to workers once it becomes available.
“How are we expected to teach the public about a vaccine that we as health workers don’t even know about? There has been no communication from management. All we know is what we hear in the news. We need to have these discussions first before we can take the vaccine awareness programme to the public,” she said.
*Not her real name
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