South Africa rolls out vaccination pop up for undocumented migrants

Undocumented migrants living in South Africa will now have the chance to get vaccinated against Covid-19. This after some undocumented foreigners expressed concern over being

denied access to the Covid-19 vaccination. 

The Gauteng Department of Health along with the  private sector partnered to open various pop up vaccination sites in Johannesburg. Dr Sayuri

Sayuri Pillay from University of Witwatersrand says the inclusion of all citizens and non-citizens in the

"This is a programme that was initiated by Prof Basu and the University of Pretoria. There is various teams that are involved including the Johannesburg District Office, Anova, MSF and

Wits RHI which is a research health institute. A team has come here at HCHC where we have

set up this programme to help with the registration and vaccination of undocumented foreign

nationals. "

The vaccination site at Hillbrow Community Health Centre had more 30 undocumented foreign

nationals when it opened on Tuesday. One undocumented migrant, who has asked to be kept

anonymous, says he is relieved that he has finally received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

"I now also feel great. I am happy that I have vaccinated even though there are others who have

still not vaccinated."

The pop up vaccination site at the Hillbrow Community Health Centre will be open for a period of

6 months for undocumented migrants. Thereafter, the government will move all vaccinations to

a permanent site. All doses administered to foreign nationals have been taken from the national

vaccine batch.