SANEF / GCIS Joint Statement on Opening of Vaccination Programme for Journalists

30 July 2021

The South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) in partnership with the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) and the National Department of Health wishes to call on all journalists to get vaccinated following the Health Ministry’s announcement today that the media sector can go get vaccinated at their nearest vaccination site.

This media vaccination programme caters for all age groups of the sector including the under 35-year-old journalists in newsrooms around the country. Journalists above 34-60 years of age are still urged to get vaccinated and self-register on the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS) due to their eligibility.

The government has concluded a bulk upload for registration of all journalists who have responded to call to submit their details through the GCIS facilitated process, and emails will be sent out today to all individual journalists and media houses to confirm their registration on EVDS. Individual SMSes will not be sent through the bulk registration system.

We thank the media sector from the mainstream to the community, online/digital, broadcasting, to print as well as freelancers for participating in the registration process which took less than a month.

Provinces such as KwaZulu Natal and Limpopo are already taking advantage of the role the media plays in society by vaccinating journalists and ensuring that they help encourage young and old in the country to voluntarily participate in the national vaccination project. This is also helping dispel misinformation and myths about the efficacy of vaccines.

The partnership between SANEF, GCIS and the health department has proven that a lot can be achieved through cooperation..

Enquiries: SANEF: Hopewell Radebe on 0835821734

GCIS: Tshegofatso Modubu on 083 276 0786

Issued by: SANEF and GCIS

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