05 Sep 2021

Close to 5 555 teaching and non-teaching staff is said to have been fully vaccinated across the Southern region as of September 1.

 Ministry of Basic Education’s southern region director, Mr Acronews Maseko said in an interview that those not vaccinated were either on isolation, quarantine or in confinement, while others cited health and religious reasons.

 He said the ministry was working with District Health Management Team (DHMT) to devise plans on how best to execute vaccinations within the region. 

 Mr Maseko said they provided DHMT with a list of staff to be vaccinated as well as additional manpower citing information technology (IT) officers for providing technical support and data collection.

 He said the ministry mobilised school heads and teachers’ regional union leaders to encourage teachers to come forth for the vaccination, adding most of the region school staff was vaccinated with Johnson and Johnson vaccine. 

He said the vaccination process, which was at 80 per cent also included private schools and pre-school staff. 

 He said presently DHMT had been dispatched teams to schools for purposes of vaccination and taking services to the people. 

 Breaking down the regional vaccination statistics, Southern Region District Health Management Coordinator Ms Josephine Mosimanewakgosi said 1 045 teaching staff had been fully vaccinated in the Moshupa Sub-district.  

The Kanye Administrative Authority has fully vaccinated 3 122 teaching and non-teaching staff. In the Mabutsane catchment area, 540 teaching community staff was fully vaccinated while in the Jwaneng catchment area 848 teaching and support staff were vaccinated.

She said when the district started the vaccination exercise people were reluctant to come for the jabs, adding that more people showed interest in getting the vaccine in August, a sign that they now understood its value. Ends