The VaxuMzansi Campaign is a national campaign created by South African Council of
Churches and Religious Forum Against. The purpose of the campaign is to address the
concerns raised by some religious groups on Covid19, especially around the vaccination
program. The campaign also addresses vaccine hesitancy and encourages communities to play
their part in the detection and prevention of the spread of the coronavirus and to increase
vaccine uptake.
Through this campaign communities are encouraged to observe the principles of non-
pharmaceutical interventions such as the wearing of appropriately filtered facemasks,
sanitising and washing of hands, encouraging of safe social interactions amongst other
interventions as well as encouraging legible community individuals to vaccinate against
Covid19 using the vaccine sites backed by the country’s various health departments.
The campaign employs various interventions such as vaccine literacy, focus groups aimed at
establishing the communities views on Covid19 and vaccines, and the Faith meets Science
dialogue to engage with the communities. The purpose of these stakeholder engagements is
to counter misinformation and to reduce the growing sense of fear and anxiety in
communities.
The matter of Covid19 Vaccination is a one about which there is a fair amount of
disagreement in the society, as indeed in the Church. The reasons are varied and we would
not wish the disagreement to do injury to the unity for which Christ prayed. That said, there
are many of us in our congregations who see value in taking the vaccine. In good
conscience, we see this as part of our contribution to our nation’s battle to defeat the Covid
19 Pandemic.
The tragedy is that there are many who wish to take this vaccine but have not been able to
do so because of all manner of logistical and practical reasons. We believe it is possible, if
the path to vaccination were simplified, to help them get vaccinated. Mrs Nombuso
Ramokgopa, the TEASA Health Commission co convener, is our National Action Plan
coordinator to assist churches where assistance is needed and can be reached at
nombuso@teasa.org.za or 0760901444.
End NR22062022
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