Commuters, taxi drivers and their bosses will now be able to get vaccinated at taxi ranks in Gauteng as the province steps up its drive to get people inoculated.
The provincial department of transport has partnered with its health counterparts to pilot the programme aimed at taking advantage of the high number of people that use taxi ranks and who may not be able to get to vaccination sites.
The first vaccination site was opened at the Esangweni taxi rank in Thembisa, Ekurhuleni on Thursday.
Gauteng transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo said the idea flows from his recent interaction with taxi drivers and industry leaders who explained their challenges in getting vaccinated.
“During our conversation...they made certain points that became of grave concern. One of the issues they raised was that they are not going to vaccination points because they have perceptions of long queues. They made the point that they work at the taxi rank, they are always here, therefore they will not be able to go to a vaccination points because they have to look after their work,” Mamabolo said.
“Seeing that they may have spent a lot of time queuing for vaccines, we decided to take the vaccine to the taxi rank given the number of people that pass here, including commuters.”
Between 9.30am and 12.30pm, 400 people were vaccinated at Esangweni taxi rank on Thursday. The new site can vaccinate 800 people a day and only opens during weekdays from 8.30am.
Mamabolo said due to the good response from the public he wants to expand the initiative to other big taxi ranks.
Over the past few months the Gauteng government has been on a drive to get as many people vaccinated in the province as possible. Premier David Makhura assigned each of one of his MECs to go to vaccination sites to promote getting the jab. The drive is also aimed at addressing concerns and questions that people have about the vaccines, which have affected the turnout.
Gauteng administers an average of 53,000 vaccine doses a day. The target is 100,000 doses a day.
The national government and medical experts have identified mass vaccinations as the only way for SA to defeat the Covid-19 pandemic.
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