What to expect from Monday 24 May – including Rural sites

Over 60 and registered for your COVID vaccine? 

Following the conclusion of the first week of the Phase 2 vaccination programme for over 60 year-olds, which also includes Phase 1b for healthcare workers, the Department would like to advise citizens on what to expect next week (24-28 May), including new sites in the rural districts. 

What happened in the first week 

The Department deliberately started with only eight vaccination sites on day one (17 May) to test the system to ensure we identify teething problems to provide an efficient vaccination service. During this week we also scaled up our vaccination sites to 19 in addition to seven private sites at Clicks stores, bringing the combined vaccination sites to 26 during the first week. 

Between 17 and 20 May, we have vaccinated 6 646 eligible people including those at Old Age Homes, of which 5 918 were persons over the age of 60 and the rest were healthcare workers.  

What were the challenges 

The biggest challenge was the scheduling of residents to receive their vaccine which was done centrally via the National Department of Health’s system. This resulted in:  

• Many residents, and healthcare workers who have registered not receiving their second sms notifying them of their vaccination date, time and venue;  
• Too many people were scheduled for a particular day at a particular site; 
• Some residents were allocated a vaccination site which was too far and missed their appointments; and 
• Late notification of their appointment date 

We understand that there is a delay in residents receiving their SMS' and some have only been receiving their SMS the day before vaccine is scheduled to take place. To rectify this, the Western Cape Department of Health has been given control over the scheduling of SMS’, which will now allow our local teams to control the distribution of SMS’ in the province. Our teams will now be working on aligning the registrations with the scheduling and aim to provide a 3-day lead time, going forward, so that residents have enough time to get to their vaccination site. We will also make sure that sites are selected close to where the person resides.  

What can be expected on Monday, 24 May (and the rest of the week) 

During this week, the Department will continue vaccinating the remaining healthcare workers alongside vaccinating over 60s. We will also be bringing online 23 more public vaccinations sites, meaning we will have 42 public vaccination sites.  Four (4) additional private sites at Medi Clinic hospitals will also come online along with six Rural sites while the teams will also commence with outreaches to Old Age Homes. This means that for this coming week there will be 42 public and 11 private vaccination sites operating. 

From 24 May, the following sites will be online: 

Already operating sites: 

• Pelican Park Clinic       
• Mathew Goniwe Clinic  
• Brooklyn Chest Hospital  
• Helderberg Hospital  
• Mitchells Plain Hospital 
• Khayelitsha Hospital 
• Karl Bremer Hospital 
• Brackenfell Clinic 
• Gugulethu Community Health Clinic 
• Hanover Park Community Day Centre 
• Cross Roads Community Health Clinic 
• Dr Abdurahman Community Day Centre 
• Inzame Zabantu Community Day Centre 
• Heideveld Community Health Clinic 
• Mitchells plain Community Health Clinic 
• Nyanga Community Day Centre 
• Gugulethu Clinic 
• Eerste River Clinic 
• Cape Town Civic Centre (Occupation Health office) 
  
  Private sites at Clicks stores 

• Constantia 
• Tygervalley 
• Westcoast Village 
• Blue Route 
• Paarl Mall 
• Vredendal Mall 
• Edgemead 

New sites to come online from 24 May: 

• Bishop Lavis 
• Bothasig CDC 
• Adriaanse Clinic 
• Chesnut Clinic 
• Chestnut Satellite Clinic 
• Delft CHC 
• Durbanville CDC 
• Goodwood CDC 
• Kraaifontein 
• Kuyasa Library 
• Lansdowne Library Hall 
• Ocean View Civic Centre 
• Reed Street CDC 
• Ruimte Road Satellite Clinic 
• Stikland Hospital 
• Symphony Way CDC 
• Tafelsig Thusong Centre 
• Beaufort West Hospital 
• Harry Comay Hospital 
• TC Newman CDC 
• Worcester CDC 
• Caledon Hospital 
• Swartland Hospital 

In addition to the public sites, the following private sites will also come online: 

Medi Clinic 

• Cape Gate 
• Milnerton 
• Geneva  
• Vergelegen 

Have you missed your appointment 

If you missed your appointment date, don’t worry. All unredeemed vaccination vouchers will remain open on the database. The system will then generate a second appointment date, venue and time. If you unfortunately miss this appointment, the system will generate a third invitation. Should you miss your third appointment, the system will close your registration and you will need to contact 0800 029 999. 

Those residents who have registered and still waiting for their second SMS, please do not worry. We expect most people who have registered to start getting their SMS in 1 to 2 weeks. We urge residents to take up their invitation to be vaccinated the first time they receive their invitation SMS. 

The time has come to fight back against Covid-19. #LetsDoThis, Western Cape.