Focus on farming community in Theewaterskloof in vaccination drive

Cape Town – The provincial health department has joined a number of organisations in the private sector, to improve access to vaccinations for qualifying members of the farming community in Theewaterskloof.

Department spokesperson Roché Butler said, at the start of the vaccine rollout period, health workers in the Theewaterskloof realised a large portion of the community either lived or worked on farms in the area, with many of them being people over 60, who stayed with their families

In an effort to make the vaccination process easily accessible to this farming community, the Health Department collaborated with various private organisations, including Paul Cluver Wines, Kromco, Beaumont Wines, Two-a-day, Fruitways, Elgin Free Range Chickens, Dennegeur Farm, Remhoogte Farm, and farming unions from Greyton, Caledon, Villiersdorp and Riviersonderend.

Butler said although the collaboration was not as result of the call to prioritise farmers and farm workers in the vaccination roll-out, they agreed that the farming community should be viewed as a priority group, hence this collaborative initiative.

Theewaterskloof clinical manager and vaccination leader Dr Renier Liebenberg said farms and companies in the area offered assistance for the campaign, with registration staff, transport to venues, laptops for administration, and volunteers to assist with administration and vaccinations. So far they have vaccinated more than 500 people in the farming community.

“By doing it this way, it takes a lot of the pressure off our facilities, especially the smaller ones. It assists the community in getting them and their family members vaccinated, close to their places of work, their transport is provided by the employers, and they do not need to queue for long periods at our facilities,” says Dr Liebenberg.

Agri SA risk and disaster unit manager Andrea Campher said: “We believe that the success of the provincial Department of Health and private sector collaboration will encourage other provinces to follow the same route.

“We need to keep our essential workers, in the agricultural sector, protected amid the third wave of infections. As many people are isolating and working from home, these front-line workers, in primary and secondary agriculture, have no protection against the cold winter months and the Covid-19 virus brewing among us,” said Campher.

Agri Western Cape chief executive Jannie Strydom said they viewed this collaboration as confirmation of the willingness of the agricultural sector to assist in the prevention and containment of the spread of the virus.

“We can only hope that this continuous gesture will influence decision makers to prioritise the sector for the vaccination roll-out,” said Strydom.