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13 September 2021 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath

As a public higher-education institution in South Africa with a responsibility to contribute to public discourse, the University of the Free State (UFS) will be presenting the webinar as part of the Free State Literature Festival’s online initiative, VrySpraak-digitaal. 

The aim of the webinar series is to discuss issues facing South Africa by engaging experts at the university and in South Africa. Some of the topics for 2021 include, among others, reimagining universities for student success; corruption in South Africa – the endemic pandemic; South African politics and the local government elections; and Is South Africa falling apart. In 2020, the webinar series saw the successful participation of leading experts discussing COVID-19 and the crisis facing the country socially, economically, and politically. 

This year, in lieu of the Free State Arts Festival, the UFS will present the webinar virtually over a period of six months. 

Fifth webinar presented on 28 September 2021

A number of surveys have found some degree of vaccine hesitancy among the public. This webinar will clarify why we need to vaccinate against COVID-19 and why vaccines are safe. A major development in the COVID-19 pandemic has been the arrival and distribution of safe and effective vaccines. As the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 spreads around the world, the vaccine has proven to be safe and effective enough to prevent severe life-threatening COVID-19 complications. Although vaccines do not fully protect everyone who is vaccinated, nor guarantee zero transmission, a great deal of adherence to other measures is still required. Returning to a new normal routine of life can only happen as more people are vaccinated.


Date: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Topic: Why vaccinate?
Time: 12:30-14:00
RSVP: Alicia Pienaar, pienaaran1@ufs.ac.za by 24 September 2021 

Facilitator:

Prof Francis Petersen
Rector and Vice-Chancellor, UFS

Panellists:

Prof Adrian Puren
Acting Executive Director
National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD)

Dr Nicholas Pearce

Head of Department: Surgery
Faculty of Health Sciences, UFS


Prof Glenda Gray
President and CEO
South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC)

Dr Angelique Coetzee
Chairperson
South African Medical Association (SAMA)


Bios of speakers:

Prof Puren is the newly appointed Acting Executive Director of the NICD since December 2020. He was trained and held a lectureship at the University of the Witwatersrand, before taking on various positions at the NICD. Prof Puren was appointed as Deputy Director and Head of Virology in 1999, and as Head of the Centre for HIV and STIs in 2017.  As Head of Virology, he focused on developing and implementing a range of viral diagnostic platforms in support of the NICD’s EPI surveillance programmes and diagnostic support.

His main interest is in the development of HIV surveillance programmes, with a particular focus on HIV incidence and the use of ‘big data’ to inform surveillance, monitoring, and evaluation. Prof Puren heads the regional and national endpoint diagnostics laboratory for HVTN-supported vaccine and antibody-mediated preventions trials, and he serves as the quality assurance technical manager for the NICD. In this capacity, he has provided support to the National Department of Health’s implementation and quality assurance of HIV rapid testing. Prof Puren serves on various expert bodies, the most recent of which is the South African Lancet Commission on High-Quality Health in the era of Sustainable Development Goals.

Dr Nicholas Pearce

Dr Pearce graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2002, after which he completed his internship at the Universitas Academic Hospital in 2003 and has been in the Free State ever since. He completed his postgraduate training at the University of the Free State and obtained a master’s degree in General Surgery as well as a Fellowship in General Surgery from the College of Surgeons to qualify as a subspecialist in vascular surgery.

Over the years, Dr Pearce has been a consultant in general surgery, a vascular fellow and head of vascular surgery, and is currently the Head of General Surgery at the University of the Free State as well as in the Free State province. He serves on the national Association of Surgeons of South Africa (ASSA), is a member of the Vascular Society of Southern Africa and is an examiner for the College of Surgeons. He also serves on the board of the College of Surgeons as an executive member, is a member of the European Society for Vascular Surgery, and an executive member of the Surgical Research Society of South Africa.

He is responsible for undergraduate, postgraduate, and subspecialist training at the University of the Free State, as well as nationally, and is often an examiner at other institutions throughout South Africa. His publications over the years have been in the surgical field on diverse topics covering the ambit of surgery in South Africa. 

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he has been instrumental in setting up multiple field and surge facilities throughout the province, as well as several vaccination sites. Dr Pearce has also been involved in multiple studies on COVID-19 over the past year, is currently serving as a provincial task team member for COVID-19 and is also the Universitas COVID-19 task team chair.

Prof Glenda Gray is the President and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and former Chair of the Research Committee on COVID-19, providing scientific evidence and experience to the Minister of Health and the National Coronavirus Command Council. 

Prof Gray studied medicine and paediatrics at Wits University, where she remains Full Professor: Research in the School of Clinical Medicine. She is a National Research Foundation A1-rated scientist and is world-renowned for her research on HIV vaccines and interventions to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV. Prof Gray, together with James McIntyre, co-founded and led the globally eminent Perinatal HIV Research Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, for which she and McIntyre received the Nelson Mandela Health and Human Rights Award in 2002.

She is co-principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health-funded HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) and directs the programme in Africa. 

Prof Gray’s accolades include, among others, the Hero of Medicine Award from the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care, and the Outstanding Africa Scientist Award from the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership.

She was named one of Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women by Forbes, and by TIME as one of the world’s 100 Most Influential People. In 2013, Prof Gray was awarded South Africa’s highest honour, the Order of Mapungubwe. Her qualifications include MBBCh (Wits), FCPaeds (SA), DSc (honoris causa Simon Fraser University), DSc (honoris causa Stellenbosch University), and LLD (honoris causa Rhodes University).


Dr Angelique Coetzee is the National Chair of the South African Medical Association (SAMA) and is leading Pillar 5 on health service delivery of the Presidential Health Summit. She has extensive knowledge of private practice and is a member of various initiatives driving primary healthcare. Over the years, Dr Coetzee held numerous chair and vice chair positions in the SAMA on national and branch level. Dr Coetzee was a member of the National Ministerial Task Team on Military Hospitals in 2013; Chairperson Ministerial Medical Task Team on Internal and External Deployment SANDF 2014, and was elected as Vice Chair of the Medical Parole Advisory Board 2011.
Her credentials include BMedSci and MBChB (University of Pretoria), Post graduate Certificate in Advanced Health Management (CUM LAUDE)  FPD, Post graduate Higher Certificate in Criminal Justice and Forensic Investigations at the Faculty of Law from the University of Johannesburg , . She is currently completing her fraud examiners certificate with the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).


News Archive

UFS implements access control measures on our Bloemfontein Campus
2014-11-21



Photo: Hannes Pieterse

Online Application form: non personnel

Map with access gates on the Bloemfontein Campus


Accessing the Bloemfontein Campus from 3 November 2014

Access control during major events on the Bloemfontein Campus

Q&A




The University of the Free State (UFS) has been tightening security measures on its Bloemfontein Campus for quite some time now. Purposefully, we have consolidated several safety measures to keep our students, staff and visitors – the heartbeat of our university – protected.

Our most significant step in this endeavour is now in the process of implementation. All five entrance gates to the campus are being equipped with strict access control.

The first phase of the process was implemented beginning of August 2014. Gates 2 (Badenhorst Street) and 4 (Furstenburg Street) were equipped with card readers. Only persons with valid access cards can enter and leave through these gates. Existing staff and student cards are equipped to be read by the short-distance card readers at the gates in order to activate the booms.

At this stage, staff and students are swiping their cards against the card readers at Gates 2 and 4 or holding it not further than 20 mm from the reader for the boom to open. Card holders now physically stop in front of the boom in order to get access to the campus.  

The duel-frequency card:

The dual-frequency cards available at the Card Division on the Thakaneng Bridge are currently out of stock. New cards will be delivered on Friday 14 November 2014.

The special offer of R30 per access card has been extended to the end of November 2014. To qualify for this offer, staff and students may pay the R30 for a dual-frequency card at the bank or cashiers on the Thakaneng Bridge no later than 28 November.  The cost of dual-frequency cards will increase to R60 per card from 1 December 2014.

Please note that only people with vehicles need to apply for dual-frequency cards.

Students and staff will, however, still be able to gain access to the Bloemfontein Campus with their current cards (in the case of staff and students who haven’t purchased dual-frequency cards yet). As is currently the practice at the gates in Furstenburg and Badenhorst Streets, you will have to stop when you reach the boom, swipe your card past the card reader, the boom will open and you will be able to drive through.

Staff and students using their dual-frequency cards should:

-       Reduce speed
-       Hold the card in a vertical position at the driver’s side window, in the direction of the long-distance reader (see photo)

It is therefore not necessary to stop in front of the boom. On holding your card upright, in line with the card reader, the gate will open automatically and you will be able to drive through (keep your card outside your window; the card reader cannot operate through tinted windows).

Please note that this arrangement only applies to incoming lanes. On leaving the campus, the card has to be swiped. This is due to the number-plate recognition technology installed at exits for additional security.

If the long-distance reader does not work, the dual-frequency card can still be used at a tag reader. 

Applying for your new card:

Electronic fund transfers: Absa Bank: 1 570 8500 71, Ref: 1 413 07670 0198, OR pay the R30 at the UFS Cashiers, Thakaneng Bridge. Please note that the price of the cards will increase to R60 from 1 November 2014.

Take your existing personnel or student card, together with proof of payment, to the UFS Card Division, Bloemfontein Campus, Thakaneng Bridge, to have your photo taken and your new dual-frequency card issued.

Permission to access specific UFS buildings or facilities linked to your existing card, will be automatically linked to the new card.

The new card is marked ‘dual’ on the back in the right, bottom corner.

The UFS Cashiers will provide assistance between 09:00 and 14:30, and the UFS Card Division between 09:00 and 15:00.

Implementation of full access control


Full access control will be implemented on the UFS’s Bloemfontein Campus from 3 November 2014. This means that access control will be implemented at all gates on the Bloemfontein Campus.

Who is using which gate? See Q&A for more information.


Gate 3 (Wynand Mouton Drive) is earmarked for use by official card holders. These include students, staff and persons doing business on campus. Parents dropping and fetching their children for sports, as well as service providers of the UFS, such as architects, may apply for valid cards. These persons will have to provide proof that they have business on campus (complete online application form and sign declaration).

All visitors to the campus will be referred to the Visitor’s Centre at Gate 5 (DF Malherbe Drive). This include, among others, parents, family and friends of students, as well as conference delegates. It is estimated that the Visitor’s Centre will be completed at the end of November (note that the gate at DF Malherbe Drive will be operational by 3 November 2014). Visitors will sign in at the Visitor’s Centre and, depending on the business they have on campus, they will only be allowed on campus for a certain period of time.

•    Lane 1 at Gate 5 will be used by visitors and service providers to enter the campus. Only card holders will be able to use lane 2.
•    Buses and trucks can also enter the campus through Gate 5.

The construction at the Main Gate at Nelson Mandela Drive is to build one extra lane for incoming traffic. The project is estimated to be completed at the end of October 2014.

•    For outgoing traffic, lane 1 (furthest from the guardhouse) and lane 2 will only be used by card holders and lane 3 (closest to the booth) will be used by service providers.
•    For incoming traffic, lanes 2 and 3 were set aside for use by only service providers. Lanes 1 and 4 will be used by only card holders.

Pedestrians

All gates for motorists will also be equipped with a pedestrian thoroughfare on completion of the project. Persons using these pedestrian gates also need to use their cards to get access to the campus.

Pedestrians who are visitors, but aren’t in possession of a valid access card, should please go to the Visitor’s Centre at the gate in DF Malherbe Drive where they will be helped.

More information

For more information on access control at the UFS, please watch our videos and read the Q&A or e-mail your enquiries to accesscontrol@ufs.ac.za.  


Issued by:    Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Tel: +27(0)51 401 2584 | +27(0)83 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za


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