Cape Town - Women farmworkers from rural areas fear being marginalised in the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out.
Fair and equitable access to the Covid-19 vaccines was one of the major concerns highlighted during a Health Indaba in Stellenbosch.
Women on Farms Project (WFP) hosted farmworkers from rural areas making information pertaining to the vaccines understandable and accessible.
WFP works with women in commercial agriculture in the province, empowering and strengthening their capacity as women who live and work on farms, to claim their rights.
WFP Health and Empowerment Coordinator Micealah Ford said about 100 women farmworkers from Wellington, Wolseley, Rawsonville and De Doorns, attended.
“Because they say the term vaccine is not as accessible for them and understandable. They understand it when you saying it's an injection, but a vaccine they did not understand. They also believed that they would not receive it.
They feel that they are essential workers but they won't get it. So this was to get an understanding of where we are at with the vaccines, when our local people will get it at a ground level, and when we’ll be able to have full access and actually access it equally to people who have money and will it be free of charge.”
Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo also attended the event.
“The minister was left with questions about whether an apartheid system will be in place with the vaccine roll-out because what the people in De Doorns said at clinics, hospitals and private sector, there is still a queue for white people and a queue for coloured people. Are we going to suffer with this vaccine in that sense still?.”
People's Health Movement SA steering committee member, Dr Lydia Cairncross said: “I think it was a very important initiative for the vaccine roll-out to be effective. We have two major fronts to work on: ensuring enough popular education is done at a grassroots level, to ensure people have enough information to be comfortable at accepting the vaccine and the second major front is the equitable access to vaccines.”
“So, Women on Farms, as an organisation is a critical role player because these women are leaders in the community and workplaces. If they have enough knowledge to campaign around vaccine access and to help communities overcome their hesitancy, it's a major support for the health system.”
Mbombo gave a run down on the AstraZeneca vaccine, the roll-out’s phased approach and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
“What the vaccine does is: you get an injection of a dead virus, that is not working where it is able to build your antibodies – the body soldiers, so that if you end up getting infected, already your body has got soldiers that can fight so that you don't end up being ill with the virus.”
Of the 44 040 vaccines received, the province administered 36 098 vaccines to healthcare workers as part of the Sisonke Implementation trial, as of Wednesday.
Related Video:
Cape Argus