Nzimande pleased universities becoming vaccination sites

HIGHER Education Minister Blade Nzimande says he is pleased with Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s efforts to take on the responsibility to become an accredited vaccination site.

CPUT’s Bellville campus started vaccinations on June 7, with 60 vaccinations a day and has already started scaling up to 120 a day.

Nzimande yesterday released the results of a study focused on the impact that Covid-19 has had on students in the post-school education and training sector.

The study was conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and Higher Health and covered all universities, technical vocational education and training (TVET) colleges, and community education and training colleges.

He said that in January he urged departmental institutions and Higher Health to mobilise and capacitate health-care workers, staff and finalyear health science students to volunteer to be trained and act as extra hands supporting the Department of Health, as it is impossible for 40 million people to be vaccinated by a single department.

“I am very proud of CPUT, the University of the Western Cape and Nelson Mandela University for taking on the responsibility to become accredited vaccination sites in a bid to support the national vaccination roll-out programme.

“I urge more institutions to become vaccination outreach sites and welcome the support from the Department of Health to assist our institutions to become vaccination outreach sites, where possible.

“Institutions that can become outreach vaccination sites rather than primary vaccinations sites will be able to leverage the Department of Health to minimise initial set-up and logistics costs,” he said.

Professor Sibusiso Sifunda, of the HSRC, said a total of 13 119 youth between the ages of 18 and 35 participated in the survey, which displayed the effects the pandemic had on students.

It was found that 40% of postschool education and training students moved back home during the lockdown; 53% thought they were at low risk of contracting Covid-19 and 15% perceived themselves at high risk; 41% were unable to purchase their own food during lockdown, of which 10% relied on food donations and 15% went hungry on some days.