Life Healthcare, one of South Africa’s leading hospital groups is pleased to be supporting the National Vaccination Drive currently underway and has identified several its private hospitals as vaccination sites.

“We are acutely aware of the crucial role we have to play in supporting the vaccine rollout and as such we already have a number of hospitals that are active vaccination sites to cater to as many eligible people as possible,” explains Dr Mark Ferreira, Group Chief Medical Officer at Life Healthcare. The government has a list of public and private active vaccination sites available on their website.

Dr Ferreira also explained that the number of people that Life Healthcare vaccination sites could vaccinate is dependent on vaccine availability from government and obviously the local impact of the third wave of infections at each hospital.

“While we would love to offer vaccinations to everyone, government policy, the availability of vaccines and the logistical constraints of our hospital settings mean that this is simply not possible. In general, we will prioritize members of the public who have registered on the EVDS system and have received their appointments at one of our sites via SMS. 

“Infrequently there may be additional or surplus capacity at one or more of our vaccination sites, and in these situations our vaccination site managers have the discretion to accept members of the public without an appointment - provided they are over 60 years of age, and have medical aid cover. It should be stressed that we are unable to provide guarantees to anyone arriving without an SMS appointment as this would depend on availability of vaccine doses and vaccination slots on the day. We would therefore encourage everyone over 60 years of age to register and wait for their appointment”, added Dr Ferreira. 

Life Healthcare continues to support government to ensure maximum vaccination capacity is achieved. “The COVID-19 vaccination is our most important tool to help stop the pandemic and we encourage all those who are eligible to register and get vaccinated for the safety of all South Africans,” concludes Dr Ferreira.