This marks the first day that the private hospital in the Free State capital is vaccinating members of the public during phase 2 of the rollout. 

Mediclinic Bloemfontein spokesperson, Barbara Steenkamp, tells OFM News they began the process at 08:00 am, and everything appears to be going well at this stage. 

Currently, the hospital has four trained vaccinators and they are vaccinating on an appointment basis. Steenkamp says whilst the process is much quicker on their side, the private hospital is still working in close collaboration with the provincial health department, and as such citizens still need to register on the vaccination portal on the department’s website and wait for a confirmation message followed by an appointment date.

Last week, Pelonomi Tertiary Hospital in Bloemfontein kicked off phase 2 of coronavirus vaccinations after the process was delayed by the Mangaung Shutdown the week prior. Free State Health Department spokesperson, Mondli Mvambi, cautioned at the time that there were limited jabs available per week. The province is continuing to see a worrying surge in the number of positive Covid-19 cases, with 398 new infections recorded in the last 24 hours and 8 131 active cases. The Free State has in the last few days overtaken the Northern Cape in that regard.

Mvambi said previously that it appears people in the province are not taking the recommended precautions seriously, at this stage, and complacency has set in. “Our worry is that our people are seemingly not taking the non-pharmaceutical interventions seriously. The sad reality is that once you are infected with Covid-19, especially the new unknown variants, the reality is that people die suddenly. The best thing to do is to stay safe."

According to the department, there are 92 public vaccination sites in the province, including Bongani, Albert Nzula, and Fezi Ngubentombi Provincial Hospitals, amongst others. The Free State wants to vaccinate more than 200,000 people by the end of phase two, this is despite only 60 000 people over 60-years-old having had registered thus far.

OFM News