The second round of CPUT’s Vooma vaccination campaign saw nearly 2,000 people receiving their vaccinations at pop-up sites on the various campuses and the vaccination centre in Bellville.

Vaccination Manager Benjamin de Waal said 1 992 people were vaccinated, including 813 at the pop-up sites and 1179 at the Bellville centre. 

He said much of the campaign's success hinged on the efforts of Melanie Swanson, Head of the HIV/Aids unit, and their team of peer educators. The Central SRC also supported the campaign.

Swanson said that as the head of the HIV/AIDS Unit, she coordinated all the off-campus Vooma vaccination drives to ensure their successful execution.

“The HIV/AIDS Unit team, including peer educators, played a key role in social mobilising students to participate in the vaccination programme. We used a similar model for HIV testing and health screening at our campuses and campus residences. This has proven to work well in the past and now for the vaccination drive.”

She added that the HIV/AIDS Unit has also played an essential role in the supply of PPE (personal protective equipment) and monitoring compliance.

The HIV/AIDS Unit initiated the following:

• Engaged student leadership one-on-one regarding the importance of the vaccination programme and involved them throughout the campaign. Swanson said they played an outstanding and supportive role in these endeavours.
• Regularly shared COVID-19 and vaccination information about the campaigns on all their social media platforms (CPUT HIV/AIDS Unit)
• Initiated a TikTok vaccination competition where students were invited to use educational and creative ways to record their vaccinations via TikTok. The top four creative TikToks were selected and posted on their social media page. The broader student population selected the best TikTok. These TikToks were viewed more than 5000 times, more than 1000 likes, and over 600 comments were received. These are now used on their social media pages to educate students about the importance of vaccination.
• Bulk SMSs per campus were sent to announce the campaigns.
• Branded shopper bags were distributed to each student who got vaccinated. This consisted of a 16 GB flash drive / EarPods, health information, condoms, leaflets and student services. To date, 3,000 shopper bags have been distributed through these campaigns.
• Vaccinated peer educators were trained to mobilise their peers to get vaccinated. Each campus has a representation of peer educators who actively promoted the Vooma Vaccination Drive, including door-to-door visits at residences.
• Another important factor was having a DJ playing music that the students enjoyed. This was a perfect drawing card.
• CSRC provided a lunch pack at Mowbray campus for each vaccinated student.
• On one of the days at D6, a healthy snack was provided to those who got vaccinated.
• A Q&A regarding the vaccination drive was distributed at almost all campus residences.
• Bulk printed Vooma Vaccination flyers that announced the different campaign dates and a lucky draw of R5000 that should be announced.
• During registration, while students waited for their student cards, the unit used the opportunity to engage them.

Peer educators group leader at the D6 campus, Siliziwe Nomnqa, said it was fun to participate in the campaign, and students well received it.

“We’ve been talking about vaccination; we’ve been engaging with our peers, and I think that’s also why they (students) came in numbers; they now understand what vaccination is.”

Written by Ilse Fredericks

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CPUT’s Vooma Vaccination days are proving to be a huge success, and more staff and students are invited to get vaccinated on the remaining days of the campaign.

The current phase of the campaign kicked off at the Bellville campus, where 476 people were vaccinated from February 28 to March 4.

The campaign then moved to the District Six campus, where a turnout of 370 was recorded from 7 to 11 March. An additional 232 vaccinations were administered at the Bellville campus during this period, bringing the week's total to 602.

During the Wellington outreach day on March 16, the turnout was 146, while an additional 41 vaccinations were administered at the Bellville Campus on that day. 

The campaign will continue until March 31.

The dates and venues are as follows:

29 March - Mowbray Campus

30 March - Catsville Residence

31 March - Granger Bay Campus

“We would like to invite all staff and students who are not yet vaccinated and need to receive their second or booster dose to join us at the vaccination pop-up sites on the upcoming dates. Getting vaccinated now is very important as all current indications are that we are likely to see a fifth wave in winter, and receiving a vaccine or booster vaccine now will protect against COVID-19 and especially severe disease,” said vaccination manager Benjamin de Waal.

Written by Ilse Fredericks

CPUT’s Vaccination Centre continues to contribute to the health of the university and broader community and has now administered more than 15 000 COVID-19 vaccinations.

The university’s recent VOOMA campaign also proved to be a huge success, with a total of 331 students (200 at theD6 Campus and 131 at the Bellville campus) vaccinated over two days.

“We are very pleased with the turnout, especially at the D6 Campus. We are planning more VOOMA days in the new year, especially at the D6 Campus and other campuses to provide more access to vaccinations to students and staff, especially for our incoming first-year learners,” said Vaccination Manager, Benjamin de Waal.

“We would like to thank our colleagues form the District Six Hospital who assisted us with the D6 vaccination outreach. We would also like to acknowledge and thank our colleagues from the HIV Unit, Sister Melanie Marais and her team, for coordinating the event as well as our colleagues from campus health who assisted.” 

Referring to the 15 000 vaccinations milestone, De Waal said all the staff at the centre were delighted to have been part of the contribution they have been able to make to the university community and also to the local community to whom CPUT has provided an access point for vaccination. 

“I would like to congratulate and sincerely thank all of the staff members from the Department of Nursing, the Department of Emergency Medical Sciences, Campus Health, the HIV Unit, Protection Services and staff from Facilities and Cleaning whom have been part of making the centre a success.”

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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