Shot in arm for SA’s roll-out
VACCINE DATA SYSTEM: HEALTHCARE WORKERS ASKED TO REGISTER FOR PHASE ONE
Enrolment will take less than one megabyte of data and can be done in about two minutes.
Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize yesterday launched the electronic vaccine data system (EVDS) self-registration portal that will be used to register to get the Covid-19 vaccine. The platform is currently open to the country’s 1.2 million healthcare workers, who will be prioritised in the first phase of the vaccine roll-out. They will receive the first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine that arrived on Monday from the Serum Institute of India.
The 1.5 million shots will be checked over the next 10 to 14 days before vaccinations can be given.
Mkhize said more than 34 000 health workers had already registered on the EVDS and the system would capture all the relevant data associated with the administration of the vaccine.
He said it takes less than one megabyte of data and about two minutes to complete the registration process.
“This is the beginning of a complete vaccination health information system from registration to certification,” the minister said.
Mkhize said the portal would capitalise on the existing health patient registration platform that is used to register each patient who goes to a health facility and numerous other systems will feed into the EVDS.
It would ensure those vaccinated were contactable and be used for the certification process for vaccines to get their vaccine certificates and for authorities that may require the certification.
He encouraged all active health workers – clinical and nonclinical, public and private, personal and salary system (Persal) and non-Persal – to register.
“The system will then verify that one is a health worker by checking against the data provided by the Persal system, private systems, facility data, employer data [such as cleaning or security contractors] and other data from organisations and other bodies that employ or regulate healthcare workers.
“Whilst it is possible to register on the site, if one is not a healthcare worker, the system will automatically prioritise verified health workers for the period of phase one.”
Healthcare workers who cannot register on the EVDS have been encouraged to seek assistance from the occupational health and safety representative in their municipality.
Even if a health worker is not registered on the portal, they will be registered at the vaccination site, Mkhize said.
“We would, however, encourage all healthcare workers to register before the inoculation call because this will help us to know how to refine our current allocations and get enough vaccines to the right vaccine centres at the right time,” he said.
The health department’s acting chief operating officer, Milani Wolmarans, said the EVDS would not crash because it was “built on a very solid platform” and measures were in place should there be challenges.
“The system is a data-secure platform built with an enterprise architecture that complies with national and international security standards,” Wolmarans said.