More than 105,000 people have been vaccinated in 7 provinces in the Basic Education sector in the last two days alone. On Wednesday when the vaccination programme began the Department of Health recorded 49,776 educators and staff who received the vaccines and on the second day 55,444 got their injections.

The number of people vaccinated is set to increase significantly when Limpopo and Western Cape start in earnest today. Limpopo Premier Chupu Mathabatha, Education MEC Polly Boshielo and Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga will this morning launch the vaccination programme in the province at the Pietersburg Hospital.

KwaZulu-Natal continues to lead with 32.1% of their target population vaccinated. Eastern Cape registered 21%, Free State at 21.9%, Mpumalanga recording 26% and North West with 22% are all doing very well. Northern Cape has recorded 12% while Gauteng is at 11% as of Thursday. These patterns also mirror the trends in the general population.

The Basic Education sector has identified 582,000 educators and staff who are expected to be vaccinated by 8 July 2021. The Acting Minister of Health Mamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane has this morning announced that more Johnson & Johnson doses have arrived in the country. The Department has assured the sector that there will be enough vaccines doses for everybody in the sector as initially announced.

The department urges all educators and staff to follow the schedules in each district in order to ensure a smooth roll-out of the programme. The leaders of all the 5 teacher unions in the sector got their vaccinations yesterday in Atteridgeville. They were joined by the chief executives of entities that include SACE, ETDP SETA, ELRC, NECT and UMALUSI.