South African train brings COVID-19 vaccines closer to people

JOHANNESBURG, September 2 (Reuters) – At Springs station in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city, Simphiwe Dyantyi and his partner wait their turn to board. But they’re not going anywhere, instead they get COVID-19 jabs inside a stationary train.

South African state-owned logistics company Transnet’s initiative aims to bring vaccines closer to people and prevent them from traveling long distances as the government ramps up its COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

From Springs station, the Transvaco train will travel during the first week of September to the rural Eastern Cape province.

Once there, he will make stops in different places around the province, bringing relief to poor villagers who are often without basic health facilities. It will be stationed there until November.

Dyantyi, 32, said the train saved him a trip to the next vaccination center where the lines have been long since the government made the vaccines available to all adults last month.

“We’ve been waiting for this moment for a very long time,” she told Reuters after receiving her Johnson and Johnson jab.

“We work in industries where you have to be on the job like all the time. So it was very crucial for me to get this vaccine,” said Dyantyi, a safety engineer at a local company.

South Africa has been hit by three waves of coronavirus, infecting at least 2,770,575 million people, killing 81,830 – by far the continent’s worst record – and hitting an already struggling economy with lockdowns and restrictions on trip.

South Africa has vaccinated more than 12 million people after its campaign got off to a slow start amid bureaucratic issues and the failure of early negotiations with drug companies, among other challenges.

“We basically bring the vaccines to people,” said Paballo Mokoena, the train director.

“This saves patients from having to travel long distances, wait in long queues and sometimes even be turned back because vaccines may be over, or they may arrive late at clinics or clinics. hospitals. “

Written by MacDonald Dzirutwe, edited by Angus MacSwan

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