Teachers are definitely next in the vaccine queue. The only question is when

It’s official — teaching and non-teaching staff above the age of 40 will be the first in the education sector to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

This is according to a presentation made by the acting director-general of basic education, Granville Whittle, to teacher unions on Friday.

He said 500,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were made available to the education sector by the department of health.

But uncertainty looms over exactly when the vaccination programme will start, despite a letter by the head of the department of health in KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Sandile Tshabalala last Thursday indicating that it would commence on Wednesday.

Whittle told the unions that the doses were still awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — the US medicine regulator — and they were “anticipated to arrive in SA on Saturday June 5”.

He said the doses would undergo testing which was expected to be completed by Monday.

“The doses will expire by June 28, which leaves the sector with a window of three weeks.”  

It’s a plan conceived with good intentions and we must try to make it work come hell or high water.

—  Basil Manuel, executive director of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA

But according to a report in News24 by Mia Malan, editor of the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, education staff will not receive the vaccine from this week as the FDA will have to determine whether the batch was contaminated with ingredients of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 shot.

This was according to Nicholas Crisp, the deputy-director general in the health department who is managing the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines. 

Some of J&J and AstraZeneca’s key ingredients are manufactured in the same factory belonging to a company that the FDA is investigating for substandard pharmaceutical practices and potential cross-contamination of ingredients.

According to Malan’s report, if the consignment of nearly half a million J&J doses is cleared by the FDA, it will only arrive in SA by mid-to-late next week and the shots would have to be used within a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, according to Whittle’s presentation, the beneficiaries would include teachers, admin clerks, cleaners, food handlers, scholar transport drivers, general workers and school governing body funded posts.

A national task team (NTT) has been established to coordinate and guide the education sector vaccination.

“The department will furnish the department of health with the data of all targeted employees for registration on the EVDS (electronic vaccination data system).

Beneficiaries would not be required to register, as the department would submit the Persal data to the health department. 

Employees on medical aid would also be required to provide information on their medical schemes.

According to the presentation, after receiving the data, the health department will communicate and confirm the vaccination schedules per districts.

“The employees will be allocated sites and dates for vaccination. Only a single dose of the J&J will be administered to each beneficiary. Public sector will be vaccinated first.”

Whittle told the unions that each district will be allocated one vaccination site, and that the health department was finalising the location of these sites.

“The health department has indicated that some provinces will use a hybrid of fixed and mobile vaccine sites, for example, Free State and Eastern Cape.”

The other seven provinces preferred fixed sites, according to the presentation.

It said that as soon as the vaccines were cleared by the FDA, the department would issue a circular to provinces.

“The NTT is also planning a joint address by the ministers of basic education and health.”

Teacher unions were told that they and governing body associations would be requested to support and participate in the communication campaign.

“District managers must make sure that all beneficiaries who work in the districts are vaccinated.”

Basil Manuel, executive director of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA, said that even if there were a slight delay, they were confident the vaccination plan would be rolled out.

“Even if it means that the vaccinations will be concentrated in the bigger centres because it will be easier to get to before we reach the expiry date, that’s fine.”

He said that they nonetheless wanted to see that as many education workers as possible benefit from the plan.

“It’s a plan conceived with good intentions and we must try to make it work come hell or high water.”