Cape Argus reports that hospital cleaners will be among the first health-care workers to get inoculated when the Covid-19 vaccine is rolled out, partly as a result of a union campaign.  

From the moment there was talk of the Covid-19 vaccine being administered to front-line health workers, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) has campaigned on behalf of the men and women who do the humblest work in hospitals and clinics filled with Covid-19 patients.  Nehawu’s Western Cape provincial secretary, Eric Kweleta, said: “We have been consistent in appealing to the department that the total sum of staff working within the health sector are all front-line staff. There is therefore no way that household and cleaning staff can be excluded in the roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine.  We have household aid and cleaning staff across all hospitals in the province and they form part of the front-line staff.”  City of Cape Town mayoral committee member for community services and health, Zahid Badroodien, affirmed that the City’s clinic and housekeeping staff at health-care facilities counted as front-line health-care workers and would be included in the list of front-line staff who would be vaccinated.  The chief clinical officer of Mediclinic, Dr Gerrit de Villiers, said: “All health-care workers, including housekeeping, will be vaccinated during the first phase of the roll-out, as stipulated by the national Health Department.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mwangi Githahu at Cape Argus

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