The facility will have an initial capacity of about 1 400 vaccinations per day, which will be ramped up to 3 000 vaccinations per day.
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, who officially opened the centre today, said: “At the start of the mass vaccination programme on 17 May, I committed the Western Cape Government to a successful vaccine rollout that would provide everyone with an opportunity to be vaccinated.
“We are doing this by opening sites across the metro and province, as well as assisting in the rollout of private sites. We’re also vaccinating residents in old age homes and bed-ridden citizens at their homes. “
Over the past five weeks a total of 205 vaccine sites have been opened across the Western Cape:
- 65 active public sites in the metro
- 107 active public sector sites in the rural districts and
- 33 active private sector sites
“We are ready to scale-up the number of vaccine sites should we receive additional vaccines,” adds Winde. “Last Thursday, 17 June, we received 49 140 vaccines, which will be used this week. Our target for this week is to administer 50 000 vaccines.”
Iain Williamson, CEO of Old Mutual Limited, says Old Mutual is serious about its responsibility to do what it can to help mitigate, minimise and manage Covid-19 and its effects on employees, customers, communities and economies across the continent.
“We fully support the voluntary vaccination programmes being led by governments in the markets where we operate, and we believe collaboration, between the public and private sectors is critical in achieving population immunity as soon as possible.
“Our vaccine centre is a proud extension of the meaningful investments we made since 2020 when we launched a Covid-19 testing site, in collaboration with Lancet, followed by the opening of a 300-bed self-isolation and quarantine facility for use by the Western Cape Government,” Williamson says.
Netcare’s CEO Dr Richard Friedland says: “Netcare is pleased to partner with Old Mutual in this important initiative, and to make our trained and experienced healthcare resources available for this purpose. Collaborating with Old Mutual will help accelerate the vaccination programme, which is the single most important step to limiting the scourge of Covid-19.”
“From the start of the rollout, Netcare’s nurses, pharmacists, paramedics and administrative staff have been hard at work at our own vaccination sites as well as assisting at public sector sites.”
The Pinelands vaccination centre is open to any South African who is registered on the country’s Electronic Vaccination Data System, (EVDS), and who has been sent a voucher number and directed to the site at an appointed time. Williamson says it’s important for everyone to heed Government’s call to avoid the walk-in queues and rather register on the EVDS system and wait for your appointment. “This will enable the health authorities to distribute vaccines more effectively, ultimately speeding up the country’s rollout programme,” he says.
The Pinelands vaccination site will also host a kiosk where volunteers will help citizens who have not been able to register to do so. These volunteers belong to community outreach programmes that OId Mutual supports.
A pan-African awareness campaign
To amplify the efforts of governments in Africa to promote safe vaccinations and drive greater vaccine acceptance, Old Mutual is rolling out a pan-African awareness campaign called Sisonke Re Kaofela, which means ‘we’re in it together’.
“Through this campaign and our call to action, Choose to Vaccinate, Protect Tomorrow, we will provide factual information and debunk myths. We all have an important role to play in helping to reduce the severity and scale of the pandemic and start rebuilding for the future,” Williamson concludes.
Old Mutual plans to open more vaccination sites countrywide and will share the details once finalised.
Ends