A third of SA’s mining industry medical sites are registered to administer Covid-19 vaccines as the third wave of the pandemic sweeps across SA.
Of the 58 mining sites that have applied to the national department of health to conduct vaccinations, 21 have received their permits, with Sibanye-Stillwater the latest company to be granted approval.
Impala Platinum, the first company to receive approval and start vaccinations in May, along with the recently listed coal business spun out of Anglo American, Thungela Resources; Harmony Gold; and Sasol, the coal to liquid-fuel company are all administering the vaccine to their employees in line with government regulations.
Harmony and Sibanye only started giving the vaccines late this week.
The industry has vaccinated 3,397 people to date, the majority of those at Implats. These include 2,111 employees and contractors, 946 healthcare workers at the mine health sites, and 880 community members.
So far, coronavirus deaths in mining stands at 441 of 512,000 employees at 385 mines, according to the latest data from the Minerals Council SA.
To date, the vaccine has been ring-fenced for people aged 60 year and more, but from July 1, people in their 50s can register for the vaccination programme, starting in the middle of July.
The accreditation of sites has been a time-consuming, highly regulated process. The mine sites fall under provincial health departments, which allocate vaccinations and, if hospitals and clinics need assistance, send community members to the mine facilities.
One of the big breakthroughs not only for mines but all workplaces is the ability to mass register employees on the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS), a requirement to ensure access to medication.
Companies can secure the consent and details of their employees and can do a bulk registration on the system. It is then up to the individual whether they will receive the vaccination, being a voluntary process.
The mining industry, drawing on its experience in treating HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and other illnesses in the sector, hopes to achieve a 90% rate of vaccination, said spokesperson Charmane Russell.
“It should be noted that all these sites currently, and in the future, will operate under the procedures of the department of health with respect to registration of sites, loading of workers onto the EVDS, procurement of vaccines from government and delivery of vaccination services according to the age bands decided by government,” the Minerals Council said on Friday.
“No private-sector companies, including mining companies, acquire vaccines independently,” it said.
The mining industry has offered to provide its healthcare facilities and staff to vaccinate more people than just employees and contractors, with treatment of mineworkers’ dependents and people in communities around their operations, reaching about two-million people.
Whether this offer from the industry will be taken up depends on provincial health departments, said Russell.
The selection of Implats, SA’s third-largest source of platinum group metals, as a pilot site along with four other companies outside mining, marked the start of using the health facilities of workplaces outside the healthcare industry.
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