Wednesday | June 23, 2021

Today marks the beginning of Covid-19 vaccinations of school staff members in South Africa (SA) as infections continue to spike.

Anyone who happens to work in a school – teachers, security guards, general workers – will receive a Johnson & Johnson jab across the country. The mass inoculation drive includes both the public and the private sector schools.

Interestingly, the authorities say they have no intentions to disrupt teaching and learning. Therefore, schools will continue as normal. According to the Department of Basic Education (DBE), school principals will have to schedule who goes to vaccination in their schools. And this will be done piece-meal.

Further, DBA says the vaccination also includes employees working in different districts of education. This move to vaccinate schools staffers comes amid the eruption of Covid-19 in its 3rd wave. 

SA has recorded 11, 903 Covid-19 cases in the past 24-hour reporting cycle. This pushed the tally to 1, 843 572 since the outbreak of the global pandemic at the start of 2020.

Again, 297 dead people were confirmed, marking the highest number of those who lost their battles to Covid-19 related illness since March this year. The death toll stands at 59, 092 in SA. 

As of yesterday, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) reported that there are 119, 030 active cases across the country.