Students are willing to take the Covid-19 vaccine

University and college students will only receive the Covid-19 vaccinations in the third phase of the government’s roll-out plan. Some students are still apprehensive about taking the jab, whereas others are ready for the vaccination.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in January 2021 that the South African government had implemented a roll-out plan for the Covid-19 vaccination. The distribution will be according to the availability of the vaccines, and the phases identified by the government. With the arrival of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, the first phase of people who received the jab were front line healthcare workers such as doctors and nurses. 

During the second phase, essential workers and persons above 60 years of age, as well as persons over 18 years with co-morbidities (underlying medical conditions) will be vaccinated, and during the third phase, people older than 18 years.

Loraine Sithole (22), a physiology and biochemistry student at the North-West University’s (NWU) Potchefstroom campus, said she has mixed feelings about being vaccinated. “We do not have that many of the Covid-19 vaccines approved yet and some are still undergoing clinical trials, but in the end, I still think we do need the vaccination to improve our immunity against the virus.”

NWU Law student Elrico Kleinkie (21) thinks that the vaccine should be mandatory in order to achieve herd immunity and prevent ongoing transmission of Covid-19. “I would take the vaccine to protect not only myself, but also the people around me,” Kleinkie said.

North-West department of health spokesperson, Tebogo Lekgethwane, said that the department has launched an extensive communication awareness campaign that aims to ensure a coordinated effort in communicating all the issues around the vaccine. “Government encourages people to get vaccinated because Covid-19 vaccines can help keep people from getting seriously ill even if you do get Covid-19,” Lekgethwane said.

Nombulelo Sibidla (23), a final-year nursing student at NWU, said that healthcare staff experienced anxiety; some contracted the virus and others passed away. “It was horrible. Families lost their loved ones each and every day, but as front line healthcare workers we had to be strong and sympathise with them,” she said.

“Prevention is better than cure. Covid-19 is a debilitating and terrible illness; it can get severe where it requires the patient to be ventilated, therefore I do advise students to get the COVID-19 vaccine,” Sibidla said.

NWU spokesperson Louis Jacobs said, “once we get to a point where the vaccine will be made available to a wider audience, then the NWU will automatically start with an intensive campaign to inform staff and students.” 

While vaccination has started and is very important, people are still encouraged to apply other preventive measures such as wearing their masks and social distancing to help reduce chances of being exposed to the virus or spreading it to others.