It’s hard to believe that around this time last year South Africa was facing heavy travel restrictions after the discovery of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
‘Dishonest people are spoiling a good system’: How the public tried to hack the EVDS
South Africa’s Electronic Vaccination Data System has not failed, but it has been abused by members of the public. People under 60 years old have been misrepresenting themselves as healthcare workers on the system in order to get an appointment and receive a vaccine dose before they are eligible, according to Dr Nicholas Crisp who leads the team in charge of the system. As a result, the healthcare worker section of the portal has been shut down. Read the report by Estelle Ellis here.
Health workers queue for vaccines at Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla / Daliy Maverick)
Sisonke Protocol expected to restart
A healthcare worker is vaccinated at Klerksdorp Hospital as part of the Sisonke (Together) programme. Sisonke will be rolled out to as many as 500,000 healthcare workers across the country. (Photo: Shiraaz Mohamed)
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority recommended last weekend that the Sisonke Protocol can continue to vaccine – if a set of new conditions are met. No healthcare workers have been vaccinated since it was suspended on 13 April. The regulatory authority’s president, Prof Glenda Gray, has assured that “extremely rare” side effects are unavoidable but there are systems in place to detect and analyse them. Read more here.
Vax registration opens. (Photo: Screengrab)
On the morning of Friday, 16 April, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize hailed the imminent launch of South Africa’s electronic Covid-19 vaccine registration system as significant and historic. The system is due to go live at 4pm to allow those older than 60 to register for the shot. Mkhize explained the process:
Make sure you have internet access;
You will need a smartphone, a tablet or a computer
Go to vaccine.enroll.health.gov.za. The welcome screen will guide you;
It is important to follow the instructions and put in all the details the system asks for;