While vaccination is not mandatory at the institution, its 3 000 staff members and almost 32 000 students are being strongly urged to get vaccinated for their own safety and that of others.
Chairperson of Council, Ambassador Nozipho January-Bardill and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sibongile Muthwa are among the Council members who have lent their support to ongoing efforts at the institution to improve vaccination numbers at Nelson Mandela University.
The vaccination campaign, consisting of posts from each Council member encouraging vaccination, will run on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook in an effort to reach a wider audience, including students who prefer these platforms.
“Being vaccinated means I can now go out and about with a sense of ease,” Prof Muthwa shares in her post, while others pose questions or simply state that being vaccinated is “the right thing to do”.
About 73 percent of staff members have been vaccinated, many of them at the University’s COVID-19 Vaccination Centre on North Campus. The uptake of the vaccination opportunity by students is not known but is not believed to be good. This is in line with the national trend among the 18 to 34-year age group.
The University’s Vax Fax campaign to encourage vaccination has been ongoing after an initial, intensive education and awareness programme.
The institution has lost a student and 20 staff members to the pandemic, and is at pains to ensure no further loss of life but strongly advocating vaccination as more staff and students return to campus after more than two years of the pandemic.