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18 February 2021 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Charl Devenish
Dr Samantha Potgieter, infectious disease expert at the Universitas Academic Hospital and affiliated lecturer in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of the Free State (UFS), was the first health-care worker to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the Free State.

Dr Samantha Potgieter, infectious disease expert at the Universitas Academic Hospital and affiliated lecturer in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of the Free State (UFS), was Wednesday (17 February 2021) the first health-care worker in the Free State to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Dr Nicholas Pearce, Head of Surgery at the UFS and also heading the Free State Province COVID-19-Task Team, said they were rolling out the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as part of a 3B clinical trial. The vaccination of health-care workers is part of an extension of the study and the vaccine has not yet been registered with the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA).

Excited for the province to receive this vaccine

“It is vital to vaccinate health-care workers to prevent staff members from getting ill and dying. So, it is a critical process, as all health-care workers are key people we have to protect in terms of the fight against COVID-19,” said Dr Pearce.

Dr Potgieter, who is working tirelessly in the COVID-19 ward at the Universitas Hospital in Bloemfontein, said she is extremely excited and also excited for the Free State province to receive this vaccine. “I am grateful to Dr Pearce and his team for setting up this vaccine station for us at the Universitas Hospital,” she said.

According to her, Wednesday was supposed to be a dry run to make sure that the systems are all in place to handle large volumes of patients. The idea is to first vaccinate front-line health-care workers and thereafter essential workers, according to the national Department of Health’s vaccination plan.

Important to vaccinate health-care workers

“The idea was to vaccinate a few people to make sure everything is in place. To check our systems, to make sure we can safely vaccinate others. It is extremely important to vaccinate health-care workers; I think, not only are we trying to protect our health-care workers from occupational exposure to COVID-19 – and they are obviously at high risk of occupational exposure – but you also want to preserve a workforce,” said Dr Potgieter.

She said it would be important to not only vaccinate health-care workers working directly in COVID-19 wards, but to vaccinate all health-care workers so that we can provide an ongoing service to our community.

The Free State MEC for Health, Montseng Tsiu, also received the vaccine on Wednesday.

Nursing students part of process

Four second-year students from the UFS School of Nursing were also part of the process. They were responsible for screening patients before and after receiving the vaccine.

Refiloe Herimbi said it feels amazing to be part of this process, as she never expected it. Said Herimbi: “I feel good about it. My role is to take the vital signs of the patients who is taking the vaccine. I give them the health education of the vaccine.”

Another student, Natashia Bouwer, said it is an honour for her to be part of this breakthrough moment in history. “I am very excited to be part of this momentous occasion and didn’t think twice about being here,” said Bouwer.

The National Control Laboratory for Biological Products

The UFS-based National Control Laboratory for Biological Products (NCL), a full member of the international WHO-National Control Laboratory Network for Biologicals and one of 12 laboratories worldwide contracted to perform vaccine testing for the World Health Organisation (WHO), also received the first batch of the AstraZeneca vaccines earlier this month. Because the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is still in the trial phase and has not yet been registered, it did not follow the same process as the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The NCL is also the only vaccine-testing laboratory in the country that performs the final quality-control testing of all human vaccine batches marketed in South Africa on behalf of SAHPRA. In its role as a vaccine-testing laboratory for the WHO, the NCL helps to ensure that the vaccines purchased through the WHO prequalification programme for international distribution to resource-limited countries, meet the high standards of quality, safety, and efficiency.



News Archive

African Student Affairs Conference a huge success
2011-05-24

 
Mr Rudi Buys, UFS Dean of Student Affairs, Mr. Folabi Obembe, Managing Director of Worldview International, Ms Birgit Schreiber, Director of the Centre for Student support services at the University of the Western Cape, Dr. Augustinah Duyilemi, Dean of Student Affairs at the Adekunleh Ajasin University in Nigeria, Dr. Christina Lunceford, assistant Director for the Centre for Research on Educational Access and Leadership at California State University in America, and Prof. Cecil Bodibe, student affairs veteran and consultant.
Photo: Earl Coetzee

The African Student Affairs Conference (ASAC), which took place on our Main Campus last week, was a major success, with two days of lectures and discussions and two pleasant social gatherings, where delegates had the opportunity to get to know each other.

The conference, hosted on African soil for the first time, and co-hosted by the University of the Western Cape (UWC), started on Wednesday 18 May 2011 with an informal welcoming session. Delegates got to meet each other and Mr Rudi Buys, UFS Dean of Student Affairs, explained the meaning of South African words like "kuier" and "lekker'.

The official start of events took place on Thursday 19 May 2011, in the Reitz Hall in our Centenary Complex. The conference was attended by delegates from universities across the continent and aimed to place the focus on issues relating to student affairs in an African context.

Delegates shared and exchanged strategies, ideas and resources, and discussed issues related to the work of student affairs professionals. The conference hoped to promote an exchange of best practice and assist attendees in identifying successful programmes.

Among the topics discussed on the first day, were “Constructing Post-Conflict Democracy on campus: a case study of transformation of student governance and political engagement as post-conflict intervention”, by Mr. Buys, and a discussion on ways in which social and online media can be used to ease the challenges of student interaction, development and support, by Ms Birgit Schreiber, Director of the Centre for Student Support Services at UWC.

A panel discussion, led by Mr Buys and several members of our Interim Student Council (ISC), discussed the specific challenges faced at the UFS.  The importance of buy-in from role-players in decisions taken by University management in order to ensure their success, was discussed, using the UFS and our recent changes as an example.

The successful integration of residences on campus inevitably came under the spotlight and the recently resolved Reitz-saga was named as a catalyst in getting students less apathetic and more involved in attempts at creating racial and social harmony.

Dr Christina Lunceford, Assistant-Director of the Centre for Research on Educational Access and Leadership at California State University, presented a paper entitled A National Approach to Building Capacity in Student Affairs in South African Higher Education.

She commented on the fact that there is little or no philosophical framework or explicit theory that informs practice of student services in South Africa.

According to Dr Lunceford, student development should be a key concern for every department or unit within student services and emphasized the need for a centralized student development unit at each university.
She also touched on the need for institutions to implement support from international student affairs professional associations, professional development for student affairs practitioners, the utilization of technology to support professionals in the field, and working with international partners to explore future opportunities, as ways in which student affairs can be used to drive performance and change at universities.

The conference continued in the Scaena theatre on Friday 20 May 2011, with presentations by Dr Augustinah Duyileme, Dean of Student Affairs at Adekunle Ajasin University in Nigeria, and Prof. Bobby Mandew, Executive Director of Student Affairs at the University of Johannesburg (UJ).

Dr Duyileme presented a paper on the challenges faced by Nigerian universities with regard to student conflict and protests, which often turn violent, and how such violence can be curbed through proper planning and management.

Prof. Mandew presented a very well-received presentation on UJ’s successful off-campus housing initiative, which involves home-owners and business owners in the areas surrounding their campuses.

Their approach demonstrated how proper planning can prevent problems associated with over-population in private homes and conflict with neighbours of the university, usually related to an influx of students into residential neighbourhoods.

This problem is faced by many universities, as more and more students flock to universities on the continent and campus residents cannot accommodate them.

The conference came to a close on Friday, with most delegates agreeing that the exchange of knowledge which took place was extremely valuable.

Ms Deborah Lahlan, of Nigeria, said: “This is an important conference for Africa and it should become a regular event.”
 

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