More than 360 people vaccinated at pop-up vaccination sites at Boxer stores

With the opening of registration and vaccination for people over 50 years of age on Thursday 1 July, Klipfontein has a 49 per cent registration rate compared to Mitchells Plain’s registration rate of 24 per cent for people age 50 and older.

To improve the low registration rate in the sub-district, the Department of Health partnered with the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) to assist with registration and vaccinations at BOXER stores in Philippi and Mitchells Plain, where community members collected their social payouts. More than 360 community members were vaccinated over the two days at these BOXER pop-up stores. 

Sulaman Haywood (61) from Mitchells Plain was happy to receive his vaccine at a convenient allocation such as the BOXER pop-up SASSA collection store in Mitchell Plain Town Centre. “The Mitchells Plain Day Hospital staff asked me if I wanted the COVID-19 vaccination and I was happy they were there to help me because this virus is killing our people and it is important to protect yourself by taking the vaccine,” says Sulaman.

Christopher Capito (65) from Mitchells Plain says, “I received my second dose of the vaccine after queuing in the SASSA line at the Mitchells Plain vaccination pop-up BOXER store with my neighbour, Dorethea van Zyl (77) who I encouraged to get her vaccine too because it is important to protect us from the virus. I encourage other community members to get vaccinated.”

The Department of Health interns together with Community Health Workers assisting with the vaccine rollout, have been deployed since Monday 5 July in the community to conduct door-to-door registration and activations in malls as part of the Department’s “Boots on the Ground” campaign to increase the level of registration and vaccination in the community. 

To ramp up the number of vaccinations administered in the coming weeks and to make the vaccines accessible to the community of Klipfontein and Mitchells Plain, pop-up vaccination sites will be set up in the coming days for eligible people who are not able to access their nearest vaccination sites and Health officials will be loud hailing and encouraging communities to access these sites.

We need everyone older than 50 to register and take up the opportunity to be vaccinated. By doing this, you not only protect yourself, but you also set an example for the rest of the community by doing the right thing and protecting them as well.

Call on eligible age groups 
We urge any citizen 60 years and older who has not registered or have not received an appointment, to please present to their closest public sector vaccination site for assisted registration and vaccination. The first dose for 60-year and older remains the highest priority at the moment. 

The EVDS system will continue to allocate available appointment slots in the following order of priority: 

Priority 1 - people 60 years and older requiring their 1st dose of Pfizer vaccine; 

Priority 2 - people 60 years and older who are eligible for their 2nd dose of Pfizer vaccine (approximately 42 days after their 1st dose); 

Priority 3 - people aged 50 -59 years requiring their 1st dose of Pfizer vaccine. 

Priority 4 – people aged 35 – 49 years will be eligible to register from the 15 July and receive their first dose of Pfizer vaccine in August. 

As usual, a limited number of walk-ins will be accommodated at the vaccination sites. The number of walk-ins depends on the available capacity and vaccine doses available at each site. 

Remember over 50s and 60s, you can register at no cost by:
Using the USSD service: dial *134*832# (data free) from your phone to start the registration process or send the word “REGISTER” to 0600 123 456 on WhatsApp or visit http://vaccine.enroll.health.gov.za. You can also access this link on our website, www.westerncape.gov.za.