South Africa’s COVID-19 vaccine programme starts

17 February 2021 was a momentous day for South Africa. Our first four frontline healthcare workers were vaccinated with the one-doses COVID-19 Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

Nurses, cleaners, admin clerks, doctors, porters are all considered frontline workers in our vaccination roll-out.

The first South African to receive the vaccine was Nurse Azoliswa Gidi-Dyosi. It is not by chance that her vaccination happened in Khayelitsha, Cape Town — an area of huge civil society and human rights activism significance.

The first ARV study clinic was set up in Khayelitsha. Do you remember the iconic visit to the clinic by Madiba, wearing an HIV T-SHIRT and pledging the efficacy of ARVs? A momentous step in our eventual victory of science over denialism.

(Compiled from information by Fatima Hassan and Laura Lopez Gonzalez on Twitter)

#VaccineforSouthAfrica #VaccineRolloutSA #sisonke #GetVaccinated #VaccinesforAll #PeoplesVaccine

Our first four healthcare workers vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine: Nurse Azoliswa Gidi-Dyosi, Dr Sa’ad Lahri, Cleaner Mavuyo Mpambani, Admin Clerk Cwengisa Dadirai. (Photograph by the National Dept of Health)

Former president Nelson Mandela when he visited a pioneering Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) antiretroviral (ARV) treatment facility with Zackie Achmat (TAC) at Khayelitsha, Cape Town. (Photograph by Eric Miller)