Phase 1 of the programme focused on healthcare workers, of whom 339 000 have already been vaccinated and this programme will soon be scaled up. Phase 2 has started with the over 60’s.
The aim is to target the elderly and get them vaccinated by winter as the data shows that they have the highest risk of hospitalisation and mortality.
Last week the RMI had an important meeting with Business for South Africa (B4SA), who have been working alongside Government since January 2021 to support the build-up and roll-out of the Government-led national COVID-19 vaccine programme. They are currently reaching out to business to support and amplify communication on the vaccination rollout and to encourage registrations on Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS). The National Department of Health has set a target to have five million over 60-year-olds registered on the EVDS as soon as possible.
We believe that the RMI and all its associations can play an important role in helping communicate this message by:
- Leveraging our membership, and other databases to distribute messages encouraging registrations
- Using our communication channels to continuously amplify the key registration and vaccination messages shared by the National Department of Health and B4SA
As responsible members please assist staff, customers, and community members directly to register on the EVDS.
A very useful and highly professional toolkit has been created – the Vaccine toolkit | Government Communication and Information System (GCIS). You will see this contains a number of design elements that can be used in your workspaces and in your correspondence to members.
Please can we ask that you review the toolkit and see which elements you would be able to implement?
Our country cannot afford another hard lockdown and with fears of third-wave escalating we need, as an industry and as citizens, to do everything in our power to support and help the Government effort.