Doctors Denied Vaccine After Waiting Hours Outside Steve Biko Hospital

Monday, February 22, 2021 at 10:39 AM by Reeshni Chetty

- Doctors who queued outside the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Gauteng were denied the Covid-19 vaccine

- Reports say that the hospital had not 'catered' for private practitioners on the weekend

- Doctors reportedly sat outside the hospital for hours awaiting news about the vaccine and hoping to receive it

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Doctors queued outside Tshwane's Steve Biko Academic Hospital for hours over the weekend only to be denied the Covid-19 vaccine.

This hospital and Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital are the two Gauteng facilities administering the vaccine to healthcare workers. Reports say that the Steve Biko Hospital had not catered for private practitioners this weekend.

The province received around 16 000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine which are meant to be administered to healthcare workers. More than 2 000 in the province have been vaccinated since the immunisation campaign kicked off.

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Doctors, steve biko hospital queue for vaccine and denied — Private practitioners reportedly queued outside Steve Biko Academic Hospital and were denied Covid-19 vaccines. Image: Lefty Shivambu / Gallo Images
Source: Getty Images

EWN reported that Motalatale Modiba of the Gauteng Health Department stated that the demand for the vaccination has been growing. This, according to Modiba, resulted in workers coming out in their numbers to the Steve Biko Hospital, fearing the vaccine would run out.

One frustrated doctor took to social media to air his grievances about the crowd outside the hospital and lack of social distancing:

A report by News24 confirmed that a statement was released by Gauteng Health MEC Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi in which she reassured healthcare workers that they would not be excluded from the vaccine programme in the country.

Previously, Briefly.co.za reported that during the State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that all provinces have a vaccine rollout plan. The president went on to say that the country had secured nine million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.