Business for South Africa (B4SA) has welcomed the opening of the Electronic Vaccination Data Systems for people over 50 to register from July 1 and be vaccinated from July 15.

B4SA steering committee chairperson Martin Kingston says the organisation is also pleased that the Department of Health has agreed for the country to increasingly take advantage of the growing number of private sector vaccination sites by directing and permitting uninsured people to be vaccinated there.

“This means that, as a country, we will use the increased supply of vaccines more effectively and rapidly increase the number of people protected.”

Kingston called on all over 50s to register as soon as possible, and for everyone to help the over 50s they know to register.

“Registration is necessary for people to be vaccinated. It helps the Department of Health allocate people to a site near them, it helps them to manage the stock of vaccines, it allows them to remind people of their second jab and it allows the department to monitor for adverse effects.”

According to Kingston, the national vaccination programme is gathering pace.

“The rate at which people over 60 and now teachers are being vaccinated is rising fast. On average, we are now administering 100 000 vaccinations daily.

“This week, over 100 000 educators were jabbed in just two days. This is a vast improvement on the average 32 000 vaccinations a day in the first week of Phase 2 in mid-May. More than 2.5-million people have now received a vaccination,” Kingston points out.

More vaccination capacity is being brought online almost every day at both public, private and workplace sites across the country.

This week there were 101 private and 143 public sector sites operational and available to administer the vaccine.

In the next week, an additional 19 workplace sites are expected to be online and there are many hundreds more in the approval pipeline.

However, South Africa remains in a periodically vaccine-constrained environment and is dependent on delivery by the manufacturers.

Kingston says B4SA welcomes the arrival of short-dated Johnson & Johnson stock now used for educators and other workers, but cautions that vaccine supply remains unpredictable and periodically constrained.

“We will soon start to use Pfizer stock for people’s second doses, which will increase demand on our stocks.”

B4SA believes that any supply constraints may impact on the rollout of many of the planned new vaccination sites and, therefore, a concerted effort is needed to secure more vaccines from multiple sources.

“Covid-19 is a national challenge requiring a collaborative national effort. We welcome the unprecedented levels of public and private collaboration between government, the private sector, and our other social partners,” Kingston states.

While government provides policy and administrative and political leadership, all sections of South African society – labour, business, civil society, the Solidarity Fund and faith-based organisations – have mobilised to support the vaccination programme.

Businesses across the country are providing assistance on the ground and leveraging their brands, networks and infrastructure to drive registrations and provide vaccine education.

“Getting as many people as possible vaccinated is the single most important priority for our country right now,” says Kingston.