DEPUTY Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla received his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital in Ga-Rankuwa, north of Tshwane.
He was vaccinated during a visit to the hospital yesterday to check on the roll-out progress.
The department said Mzansi was successfully rolling out delivery of the vaccine to healthcare workers through the Sisonke Programme.
The number of vaccination sites had increased from 17 to 49 in order to increase access.
Phaahla was joined by Health MEC Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi.
Meanwhile, Corruption Watch said it would continue to monitor the vaccine procurement and roll-out, and intensify the call for maximum transparency.
This in order to build public trust in the programme and prevent another corrupt procurement experience.
The civil rights organisation was discussing the alleged gaps in information shared by government around the procurement and roll-out of the vaccine.
The organisation’s Karam Singh spoke about letters addressed to National Treasury on how procurement, under emergency regulations, would take place.
He said even though Treasury gave a detailed response, some questions remained unanswersed.
Singh said it raised a lot of questions that information around the procurement and roll-out had not been officially published by government and, as a result, public trust around the vaccine was low.
“Public trust is a major factor in the success of the mass vaccination programme,” he said.
“When citizens lose trust in government, they also lose trust in the actual vaccine.
“The real challenge is that government hasn’t been transparent, and this creates an environment that is susceptible to corruption.”
