Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says the education sector will not meet its target of vaccinating 582 000 education sector employees by the end of Wednesday.

July 7 was the initial date the department set to vaccinate all its employees in the sector as part of a targeted vaccination drive that began last month.

Motshekga said on Wednesday that more than 400 000 people had been vaccinated in the sector.

She said the vaccination drive had been a success but a few hiccups have caused the process to slow down.

She said the plan was to ensure provinces could complete vaccinating the remaining individuals by Friday.

One of the challenges has been dealing with independent schools and loading their information onto the system.

The minister said that by the end of Wednesday, she hoped the sector would have worked hard to reach the 500 000 people.

Motshekga said there were 16 000 education sector employees who were on special leave because of comorbidities. The teachers would be expected back at work when schools reopened on July 19.

She said the vaccination drive should have given those individuals an opportunity to be vaccinated.

“When schools reopen we will expect all our teachers, including those with comorbidities, to return to work.

’’We have discussed this matter with the teacher unions, and all five that are part of the ELRC (Education Labour Relations Council) are in full support of this position,” she said.

Additional education sector support staff. such as food handlers, janitors, and support staff from independent schools would be added to the education sector’s vaccination program.

That would increase the sector’s target to 789 554. The Department of Health has agreed to provide the sector with additional doses, the minister said.

Motshekga encouraged people to get vaccinated. She addressed the myths that persisted in the sector and were making people fear the vaccines.

The sector is using Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot coronavirus vaccine.

“We make this appeal to everybody to ensure that you please get vaccinated, so we can focus on the task of stabilizing schooling. We really need to overcome hesitancy.

“The learning losses are getting worse daily and the impact on the system will indeed affect negatively in the future.”