Health Department announces changes to COVID-19 vaccination reporting
The National Department of Health has been reporting on COVID-19 vaccinations on a daily basis since 2021 in order to keep the South African public abreast with regard to the progress of the COVID-19 vaccination programme.
To accommodate changes in the vaccination programme, which now includes booster doses, and to validate the use of EVDS data for reports, the current vaccination data was reviewed, and changes were made to reset some of the values, improve and simplify the report. Based on the decision, the frequency of the publication of the report is also reduced to once a week.
Whilst the Department remains committed to provide accurate and timely information on the Vaccination Programme, daily reporting is no longer required.
The Department will therefore publish vaccination data on a weekly basis with effect from 26 December 2022.
The data will be presented in an improved and simplified format which will also reflect changes which have been made to the programme as it has evolved.
This means the department will publish the COVID-19 vaccination data every Monday on the sacoronavirus.co.za website, and will continue to closely monitor the situation.
Additional enhancements to the reporting include the 12-17 year olds' vaccination figures in the consolidated table, making it easier to see vaccinations per age group at a glance.
The EVDS records age at the date of vaccination and any future vaccinations will similarly be captured this way. Individuals whose birthdays fall between vaccinations and move between age groups will therefore be recorded in different age groups.
The department would like to thank all individuals, teams and stakeholders whose sacrifices, commitment and contributions made it possible for the government to keep the public informed as we continue with the vaccination programme.
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The pandemic is not over, and vaccination services remain accessible as part of routine health services and at designated sites.
In areas where vaccine coverage remains low, we will continue to take vaccines and health services to the public, using mobile clinical units, as vaccines still offer the best protection against severe illness, hospitalisation and death.
The public is encouraged to use the National Health Hotline, which is a free call, on 0800 029 999 to find out when they are due for a vaccine, and to use the findmyjab.co.za app to link them to their closest vaccination site.
We continue to urge people to vaccinate and to get their boosters when they are due, and to continue to do everything possible to keep themselves safe against the current and future COVID-19 variants.
