Teachers who refuse to vaccinate will not be allowed to work from home.
This was the message from Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu during a media briefing on Wednesday in KwaMashu, Durban.
“We can't force those who don't want to vaccinate. It's a voluntary decision to make but what we have decided is that if you don't vaccinate, you can't then claim you still want to work remotely. You can't get that benefit,” said Mshengu.
“If you don't vaccinate there are things you can no longer claim like, ‘I have comorbidities and I need to work from home’. You will not be able to do that because at least the government has provided you the opportunity to vaccinate. Therefore, such things will no longer be available to them.”
Mshengu was speaking at the KwaMashu Indoor Sports Centre which is one of the 70 vaccination sites approved in KZN for teachers.
Vaccine hesitancy has been a feature in KZN's vaccine rollout.
Earlier this month, Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu said, healthcare workers refusing to get vaccinated was one of the main reasons they didn't reach their goal of vaccinating all healthcare workers by the end of May.
Nomarashiya Caluza, South African Democratic Teachers' Union secretary general, was one of the teachers vaccinated in KwaMashu with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine (one jab).
“I have taken mine and I have no pains, I'm not feeling anything. I have been monitored for 15 minutes and I was told I can leave the centre,” she said.
“I continue to encourage teachers and education workers to avail themselves and make sure they get to the centres and take the vaccine because now that's the only hope we have of managing the spread of this virus.”
About 500 teachers and education workers are expected to be vaccinated at the KwaMashu site on Wednesday.
