[Thread] 1. LATEST details re the teacher/school staff #VaccineRollOutSA.
1. Which jab will be used? #JNJ 2. How many doses are needed? 1 per person 3. When will it start? Wed, 23 Jun 4. When will it end? Thurs, 8 Jul 5. How many school staff need to get vaccinated? 582 564
2. Who qualifies?
1. EVERYONE at gov schools
- 395 682 teachers
- 104 111 support staff
- 42 671 teachers/early childhood development staff
2. EDUCATORS working at (legally registered) private schools
- 42 671 teachers, but no support staff
3. Education dpt office staff
3. Who else at government schools can get vaccinated?
1. Staff who transport children to and from schools 2. School feeding scheme staff 3. Staff who do remote learning programmes 4. Teacher union, security, cleaning staff
4. Which school staff can't get vaccinated?
1. Those who had #COVID in the past 30 days 2. Those how have already received a #JnJ jab (under #Sisonke) or one #Pfizer jab 3. Those who had received a flu jab in the past 14 days
5. How do you register? 1. If you work at a gov school + are on their payroll, your details will already be on the #EVDS 2. Lists of private school + SGB appointed teachers will be submitted to the edu dpt. The lists will be uploaded onto the EVDS. 3. You can't register on-site
6. What do you need to take with you to a site? 1. ID 2. Medical aid card (if you belong to one) 3. A letter or list with your name, signed by the school principal, that confirms you're a staff member (in case the EVDS is offline because of load shedding)
7. How many jabs have we got for schools?
1. 300 000 arrived on Thursday, but 582 000+ people need to get vaccinated 2. More doses will arrive next week. 280 000+ of those doses will be given to the education vaccination programme
When will the jabs expire? 1. 8 August
8. Where will school staff get vaccinated?
1. 281 special sites will be set up 2. Public schools will be scheduled first 2. School staff without their own transport, have to be assisted by their schools (not the education dpt)
3 Uber has offered 100 000 free rides to sites
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[Thread] 1. JUST IN from @SAHPRA1. Is Sahpra looking at approving the #COVID jabs of Sinopharm (from China) and Moderna (from the US) for use in SA? NO. Why not? Because those companies haven't applied with the regulator for authorisation use.
2. Can SA procure jabs which haven't been authorised for use by @SAHPRA1? NO. So, unless a manufacturer applies for emergency authorisation use with Sahpra, the gov can't buy the jab the company makes. Why? Because we 1st need to know if Sahpra thinks the jab is safe + effective.
3. What can a vaccine manufacturer do before a jab is authorised by Sahpra? They can certainly lobby ministers, the president, senior gov staff. But any product still needs to follow the law. That means no procurement until Sahrpa has approved the jab for use.
[Thread] 1. Helen Rees (Sahpra board chair): SA can only approve #COVID jabs for use if they've applied with @SAHPRA1.
* SA has approved: #AstraZeneca, #JnJ, #Pfizer
* @SAHPRA1 is looking at applications from Sinovac and Sputnik
* No other jabs have applied for approval
2. Where is @SAHPRA1 at with Sputnik? Sahpra has requested more data - Sputnik hasn't submitted all the data that is required for a complete review of the safety and efficacy of the jab.
3. One of the issues with the Sputnik jab is that the type of adenovirus it uses is similar to one used an an HIV vaccine trial that was stopped early because there was data which suggested that it led to an increased risk of HIV infection among uncircumcised men.
[Thread] 1. Nicholas Crisp from @HealthZA: Since the start of #VaccineRolloutSA the lack of availability of jabs has constrained us. SA got 300 000 #JnJ jabs on Thu and will now (next week) start to vaccinate 582 000 school staff (public +private).
2. School staff will be vaccinated within 10 working days. All provincial health/edu dpts will focus on vaccinating school staff during this period. 300 000 jabs are not enough, but we're getting more next week, also on a short exirry date (11 August).
3. The education departments will arrange transport for teachers and other school staff to special vaccination sites. They need to take their ID docs and also their medical aid cards, if they belong to one, to the sites.
[Thread] 1. What do we know so far from @HealthZA about #CovidVaccinations for school staff: 1. 300 000 #JnJ jabs will be in SA by Fri (tomorrow) 2. Another batch from the US will arrive next week (nr of doses = not yet known) 3. Vaccinations will start on Wed, 23 Jun
2. Who qualifies? 1. All school staff (so not just teachers, cleaners, etc too) will be covered, regardless of age 2. Both public and private schools qualify 3. @healthza says between 550 000 and 580 000 staff need to be vaccinated.
3. When do the jabs expire? @healthza says = 11 August (the FDA and Sahpra have approved an extension from 28 June to 11 August), but the aim is to try and vaccinate school staff within 10 days.
2. #CyrilRamaphosa: Our first 300 000 #JnJ doses will be used to vaccinate teachers and school staff. Thereafter the next essential workers group that will be prioritised will be security personnel on the frontline. BUT: Our immediate task is to vaccinate people of 60+.
3. #CyrilRamaphosa : SA has the capacity to vaccinate 150 000 people/day (we’re currently doing 80 000 because of a lack of jabs - until our #JnJ jabs arrive).
[Thread] 1. #CyrilRamaphosa: Restrictions are effective in bringing down #COVID infections. But although we have reason to hope, we still have a mountain to climb.
2. #CyrilRamaphosa: A third wave of infections are upon us. Since my last family meeting (2 weeks ago), the average nr of new infections has doubled from 3 700 daily infections to over 7500. Deaths have increased by 48% from 535 to 791 in the past 7 days.
3. #CyrilRamaphosa: Gauteng is particularly bad. The increase in #COVID infections in Gauteng is now worse than they were in previous waves at the same stage of the wave.