Lebogang Selahla put on her uniform yesterday morning to go to work and tend to Covid-19 patients in her ward at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
Little did she know that she’d be among the first group of health workers to get the Covid-19 vaccine in Gauteng.
Her eyes lit up with curiosity and a hint of nervousness as the vaccinator learnt towards her left shoulder to inject her with the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine. Selahla, a nurse at Bara, was among health workers who took part in the first rollout of the vaccine in Gauteng yesterday.
Gauteng has targeted 10.4-million people to receive the jab to achieve herd immunisation. About 380,000 health workers have registered to be vaccinated in the first phase of the rollout.
After the two-minute procedure, Selahla was escorted to the veranda where a nurse sat with her for 10 minutes to observe any negative medical reaction before she was allowed to go.
“I’m glad and excited that I have finally been vaccinated. I’ve been working in the Covid-19 ward since March and it has always been in the back of my mind that I could contract Covid and unknowingly bring it home to my family.
"I was not even expecting to be vaccinated today and I was surprised when I received a message that I must come. I wasn’t scared to take it because I told myself that the government will never kill us intentionally,” said Selahla.
Vaccinator and professional nurse Nomthandazo Makhavhu said a few months ago she was among the thousands of people who were sceptical about the Covid-19 vaccines until she volunteered to take part in the rollout.
“Most of my fears came from the stuff I read on social media and at the time we healthcare workers had not received any sort of information about Covid vaccines from our managers. We were just in the dark and we could not even advise the communities we work with. I then attended classes on vaccine rollout for about a month and this taught me a lot. I know vaccines are about protecting us from death. I can’t wait for my turn,” said Makhavhu.
Yesterday’s programme was manned by a team of about 70 people that included health-care workers, security, administrators and pharmacists who were to vaccinate for almost four hours, from the morning until around lunchtime and then go back to their normal jobs at the hospital. The hall is also equipped with four full ICU beds and ventilators.
“We are all full-time workers at Bara and for two weeks we would come here for about an hour or two to prepare this hall. There were some interruptions because of the AstraZeneca rollout being halted,” said Dr Nilesh Lala, one of the organisers of the Bara rollout.
Yesterday’s glitches included poor internet connection, which is key for data collection. The process was also delayed by the late arrival of the government delegation that included Gauteng premier David Makhura and health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi.
There was poor adherence to Covid-19 protocols as large groups of media followed Makhura and gathered around the station where Mokgethi was being inoculated. A total of 28 people were vaccinated at Bara.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.