Opening Remarks
Minister of Health
Launch of EVDS Self Registration Portal
3 February 2021 7:00 AM
This morning it is my pleasure to launch the Electronic Vaccine Data System Self- Registration Portal. This is the beginning of a complete vaccination health information system from registration to certification.
The ninth pillar of the Presidential Health Compact dedicates itself to the development of “an information system that will guide health systems policies, strategies and investments.” This system has been developed with that purpose in mind to ensure that we lay solid foundations for digital health information systems that inform the right national policies and interventions.
We are making excellent strides by leveraging off existing digital infrastructure and focusing our energy and capability on interoperability. Indeed the National Health Council recently adopted the 2020 Health Normative Standards framework for Digital Health Interoperability to ensure that different health information platforms talk to each other, providing critical data both at provincial and national levels. This EVDS has been build on the systems and solutions that are already being implemented – capitalizing on the Health Patient Registration platform. Numerous other systems will feed into the EVDS
The system can capture the relevant metrics of all South Africans that will be vaccinated; ensure vaccinees are contactable and alerted to optimize adherence to the regimen; and complete the certification process such that vaccine certificates are easy to obtain for vaccinees and authorities that may require the certification.
In line with the phased approach of the vaccine rollout plan we invite all active health workers to self register on the portal which can be accessed on the url: vaccine.enroll.health.za
All health workers- clinical and non clinical, public and private, persal and non persal- are invited to join more than 34000 health workers who have already registered onto the system.
The system will then verify that one is a health worker by checking against the data provided by the persal system, private systems, facility data, employer data (for example cleaning or security contractors) and other data from organizations and other bodies that employ or regulate health care workers. Therefore, whilst it is possible to register on the site if one is not a health care worker, the system will automatically prioritize verified health workers for the period of phase one.
It takes less than one megabyte and approximately 2 minutes to complete the registration process and we will shortly demonstrate how easy it is to self register.
Any health care worker who cannot register can seek assistance from the occupational health and safety representative in their municipality. In the event that a health care worker has not self registered you will not be denied the vaccination. You will be registered at the vaccination site , it might just take a few minutes longer. We would, however, encourage all health care workers to register before the inoculation call because this will help us to know how to refine our current allocations and get enough vaccines to the right vaccine centres at the right time.
It is a matter of national pride for us to offer a service that ensures our health care workers are prioritized and inoculated in an efficient manner. We have reached a significant milestone in our fight against COVID-19.
I now invite Ms Milani Wolmarans to take us through the demonstrations. We will also release an explainer video so that anyone who has missed this briefing is able to get the information.
I Thank You
