It Was The Right Thing To Do!

South Africa’s first vaccine recipient wants people to know it’s safe to have the jab

- Lesego Mkhize

She knew something big was happening. The hospital was buzzing with activity and members of the media and camera crews were everywhere.

Zoliswa Gidi-D yosi ignored the commotion and went about her rounds in the labour ward at Khayelitsha District Hospital in Cape Town.

When her manager later told her President Cyril Ramaphosa and health minister Zweli Mkhize were visiting the hospital that day, it all made sense.

“I thought, ‘Oh okay, maybe that’s why the media is here’,” Zoliswa says.

She didn’t expect all eyes to be on her – but that’s precisely what happened when she became the first person in South Africa to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.

The previous day the first batch of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had arrived at OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg and Zoliswa (42) immediately volunteered to be vaccinated. But what she hadn’t expected was to be put at the top of the list.

She admits she was nervous when she stepped into the room with all the cameras trained on her, but the immunisation process was over in the blink of an eye. “It didn’t hurt – it’s just a needle prick but it’s also such an honour to be able to serve my country,” she tells us.

Zoliswa, who works as a midwife in the hospital, is one of the 16 frontline workers who received a jab alongside Ramaphosa and Mkhize that day.

Shortly after she got her shot, three of her colleagues – Dr Sa’ad Lahri from the hospital’s emergency unit, Mavuyo Mpambani from housekeeping and admin clerk Cwengisa Dadirai – rolled up their sleeves and followed in her footsteps.