Cape Town labour ward sister is first in SA to have Covid-19 vaccination

Labour ward sister Zoliswa Gidi-Dyosi became the first healthworker in SA to be vaccinated against Covid-19 on Wednesday.

She was injected with the Johnson & Johnson vaccination at Khayelitsha District Hospital in the Western Cape, watched by health ministrer Zweli Mkhize and Western Cape health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo.

Mkhize and President Cyril Ramaphosa were expected to be vaccinated alongside 16 health workers, including emergency medicine physician Dr Sa’ad Lahri, housekeeping staffer Mavuyo Mpambani and administration clerk Cwengisa Dadirai.

Mbombo said she would not be receiving the vaccination. The Western Cape had received only 13,000 of the 80,000 doses that arrived at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Tuesday night, she said.

This was sufficient to vaccinate only about 10% of the health workers in the Western Cape, and they had been prioritised according to their roles and their comorbidities.

“So how can I jump the queue?” Mbombo told journalists outside the hospital.

Most of the vaccines sent to the Western Cape will be administered at the province's largest hospitals, Groote Schuur and Tygerberg.

This is a developing story.

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