The Western Cape is introducing a system to manage walk-ins at sites, but has encouraged residents to wait for their second invitation SMS which will start arriving in greater numbers.

The scheduling system managed through the EVDS, controlled nationally, has not worked as well as it should.

This has meant that some residents have received SMSs at too short notice, for places too far away from their homes, and many have not yet received any at all.

Premier Alan Winde says because of the system challenges some people have also missed their appointment, resulting in additional vaccine doses at sites available to then vaccinate those eligible residents who walk-in.

The Western Cape will now provide a margin of additional vaccines to sites (size and projected capacity determined) for eligible walk-ins (residents over 60).

Furthermore, those vaccines that are not administered on the day because of a missed appointment (currently averaging between 5% to 25% of doses) will also be used for someone who is over 60 and who arrives without an appointment.

I do want to be very clear, though, that those residents who have received their second SMS, and have been invited to receive their vaccine, will be given preference in line with their appointment date and time. This is only fair.

There is therefore no guarantee, at this stage, that you will get a vaccine as an eligible walk-in, and you may wait a long time for one at a site without success.

To manage this new approach, sites will introduce a queue system, so that eligible residents who walk-in can be assisted in terms of this additional margin created or receive a vaccine from a missed appointment. This will be brought online in the next few days.

It is worth repeating again that as more vaccines arrive, more sites open up, and as the Western Cape gets more control over the scheduling of appointments, so will the number of appointments that are scheduled increase.

We therefore encourage you to wait for your second SMS, it is coming soon. I guarantee that every person who registered for their vaccine will get vaccinated.

TO GET MORE INFORMATION AND TO CHECK YOUR REGISTRATION STATUS CALL 0860 142 142