weekly newspaper.
For the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in South Africa, the halls of the country’s hospitals were filled with hope again as health workers welcomed the roll-out of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and lined up to get their jab.
Health workers were feeling a mixture of hope and reticence, psychiatrist Dr Zukiswa Zingela said on Friday.
Zingela started Team Sisonke during the pandemic, a project to support the mental health of healthcare workers while they were battling two waves of the pandemic.
The protocol for the roll-out of the vaccine is also called Sisonke, meaning “we are in this together”.
There was jubilation at Steve Biko Academic Hospital on Wednesday as healthcare workers got their first Covid-19 Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The hospital has been given 5 700 vaccines to roll out and has targeted 60 workers per day.
Gauteng Premier David Makhura said the province was ready for the wider rollout of vaccines that were expected in the coming weeks.
Staff at Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria spent half of the day rehearsing the inoculation trial of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Wednesday, which kicked off at around 14:00.
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Registered healthcare workers were already queuing at the hospital s Covid-19 vaccination area when the media arrived along with Gauteng Premier David Makhura and Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi.
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