Universities weigh mandatory jabs
• If enacted, move could raise the ire of trade unions
As the debate about mandatory vaccination policies intensifies, some of SA’s leading universities are mulling making it compulsory for staff and students to get jabs against Covid-19 to ensure the academic programme is not disrupted. Such a move could put higher education institutions and trade unions on a collision course.
As the debate about mandatory vaccination policies intensifies, some of SA’s leading universities are mulling making it compulsory for staff and students to get jabs against Covid-19 to ensure the academic programme is not disrupted.
Such a move could put higher education institutions and trade unions on a collision course. Labour federation Cosatu has said it would rather see workers volunteer to get vaccinated, and making it mandatory “provokes a negative reaction and creates a poisoned debate”.
While it is unclear what a mandatory vaccine policy for tertiary institutions would entail, there is a possibility that those who refuse to be vaccinated could face restrictions on campus to limit the spread of Covid-19.
Universities were reduced mostly to online learning during the earlier phases of the national lockdown, which disrupted the academic programme in part because many institutions did not have the capacity or the means to fully implement virtual classes.
The rollout of vaccines among students has largely been slow amid growing hesitancy. A survey conducted by the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in collaboration with the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) found that in the 18-to24-years cohort, the vaccine acceptance level was only about 55%, while for those older than 55, it was at 85%. Among 25- to 34-year-olds, acceptance levels were 66% and for 35- to 54year-olds, it was 78%.
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT
Linda Meyer, a director of operations at Universities SA, the body that represents the country’s public universities, says while no-one can be forced to be vaccinated under the current legislative framework, tertiary institutions have a constitutional right and established rights according to the Higher Education Act to determine who may access their property.
“Universities have an obligation to take positive steps … to ensure that staff, students and the public are safe on their sites or face criminal consequences,” Meyer said.
The government is considering introducing vaccine passports, which could require indiZimbabwe’s viduals to produce evidence of Covid-19 vaccination to gain access to public spaces.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday the government would provide an update later this month on its plans for vaccine passports. This comes as it struggles to achieve herd immunity or the target at which a large portion of the population becomes immune to a disease. The government is offering jabs to anyone aged 18 and above and aims to reach 40-million people, or 70% of the adult population.
To date 7.187-million people, or 18%, of the adult population have been fully immunised.
Earlier in September, financial services and health insurer Discovery announced a mandatory vaccination policy for its SA-based staff. Other employers, including Cape Town-based insurance and investment group Sanlam, are planning to introduce similar policies.
Stellenbosch University spokesperson Martin Viljoen said that along with many other institutions and organisations in SA and worldwide, the university was investigating the possibility of mandatory vaccinations.
The university, which has a student population of 32,000, says at least 2,000 of its students had been jabbed at the institution’s vaccination site, the Lentelus centre, while 365 staff out of 3,000 had been vaccinated. While many more may have been vaccinated elsewhere, the university says it is ramping up its social media campaigns to encourage students and staff to be vaccinated.
“It is an institutional priority for Stellenbosch University that all staff and students are vaccinated, in the interest of health and safety at the university,” Viljoen said.
Stellenbosch University has appointed a task team to conduct a risk assessment that will inform its vaccination policy.
The University of Cape Town (UCT) says it is considering a vaccination policy. Spokesperson Elijah Moholola said the UCT executive has initiated discussions over what the opportunity for more members of the university campus to get vaccinated means for UCT.
“The executive has also started engagements with the relevant stakeholders within the campus community on possible scenarios. Once these engagements are concluded, UCT will provide an update,” Moholola said.
University of the Witwatersrand spokesperson Shirona Patel said the institution was trying to get as many students and staff vaccinated as possible, and especially those living on campus and surrounding student residences.
VACCINATION SITE
“We are in the midst of developing a vaccination policy, and we are in consultation with various stakeholders” Patel said.
Wits has a vaccination site on campus with the capacity to vaccinate 300-400 people a day with the Pfizer vaccine. It did not provide details on how many staff and students had been vaccinated to date.
“Students and staff have been vaccinating at multiple sites in and around Braamfontein and Parktown for several months. Our health sciences staff and students were all vaccinated last year already,” Patel said.
Earlier in September, the deans of SA’s medical and dental schools recommended compulsory vaccination for their students and the general healthcare workforce, arguing it will protect individuals from serious illness and help slow the spread of Covid-19.
Ramneek Ahluwalia, the CEO of Higher Health, the national body that is responsible for planning and implementing health and wellness programmes across the higher education sector, believes it is too soon to introduce mandatory vaccine policies.
“We are advising that we should give the national vaccination drive time to mature. It has been a couple of weeks since all adults qualify for a vaccine. Information and mobilisation initiatives are being strengthened nationally and within our and other sectors,” Ahluwalia said.
“Access in terms of the supply of doses and number of vaccination sites is ramping up. We are saying let us allow reasonable time for all these components to work properly before adopting a harder mandatory approach across the board.”
He said, however, the autonomy of institutions as employers must be respected. “Each institution has its own needs and appreciates its unique challenges, and therefore must be able to take its own decisions.”