In a bid to encourage students to inoculate, those who are unvaccinated could be asked to produce a negative Covid-19 test result before being allowed entry into higher education institutions.
And universities, Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and Community Education and Training (CET) colleges have been asked to think of innovative ways of rewarding students who take the vaccine.
These are some of the proposals to address possible vaccine hesitancy in the post-school education and training sector (PSET), according to Prof Ramneek Ahluwalia, the CEO of Higher Health.
Higher Health is the health, wellness and development centre that leads, plans and implements health and wellness programmes in the PSET sector.
It encompasses more than 200 public and private higher education and training institutions and about 2,000 campuses located across urban, peri-urban and some rural regions.
There are also about 250,000 staff employed across all public universities, TVET and CET colleges, private institutions, skills learning sectors, Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs), Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) and the National Skills Fund (NSF).
Ahluwalia said the proposal calling for unvaccinated students to produce a negative Covid-19 test result is a possible measure that could be implemented two months from now.
“The sector may introduce testing as a measure for all unvaccinated individuals with weekly or 72-hour intervals, as science suggests. The prospect of being asked to test frequently is likely to sway more people towards vaccination.”
We are saying, let us allow reasonable time for all these components to work properly before adopting a harder mandatory approach across the board.
— Prof Ramneek Ahluwalia, CEO, Higher Health
But he said before this happens “we should give the national vaccination drive time to mature”.
“It’s been a couple of weeks since all adults qualified for a vaccine. Information and mobilisation initiatives are being strengthened nationally and within our and other sectors.
“Access in terms of the supply of doses and number of vaccination sites is ramping up. We are saying, let us allow reasonable time for all these components to work properly before adopting a harder mandatory approach across the board,” Ahluwalia said.
It is crucial to promote vaccination through every communication channel, especially the introduction of appropriate incentives.
Ahluwalia told Sunday Times Daily that they have had a consultative meeting with vice-chancellors of universities and principals and rectors of TVET and CET colleges on the rollout of the vaccine programme and ways to encourage people to vaccinate.
“These are the internal consultations going around with higher education institutions and rewards is one of the areas in our discussion.”
He said allowing vaccinated students to participate in sports and cultural events, or attend these events, is an example of a “soft” incentive that could be awarded.
“Sport is quite big at varsity and attracts a lot of students.”
During the announcement of the vaccination rollout programme in July, higher education minister Blade Nzimande said the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine will be distributed to rural districts and the Pfizer vaccine to the country’s major metros.
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