Covid-19 and Site Adaptations

Setshaba has always been committed to being at the forefront of prevailing health-related research, and COVID-19 has been no exception.

COVID-19 Research:

First reported on 31 December 2019, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. The virus has proven not to be discriminative; it affects people in different ways and has resulted in a global pandemic with over 100 million reported cases worldwide.

Setshaba Research Centre (SRC), responded to the call of action and is proud to be one of the multiple clinical research sites that are active in the fight against COVID-19, by contributing to research efforts aimed at finding a safe and effective vaccine. . We have participated in the three major vaccine trials in South Africa, namely the Astra Zeneca (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19), Novavax (2019nCoV-501) and Ensemble (CoVPN3003 Janssen) vaccine trials. We also participated in the CROWN Coronation study that is focused on finding prophylactic agents to prevent healthcare workers from infection.

In addition to the above, SRC was also a participating site in the Sisonke project which involved the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine to Healthcare Workers in partnership with SAMRC and DOH

We look forward to upcoming COVID research projects that are currently in the pipeline for initiation.

On-site adaptations:

SRC continues to adhere to all COVID-19 regulations by adjusting our daily operational processes and workflows to accommodate the COVID-19 regulations. Participants and SRC staff members are reminded every hour to practice social distancing, maintain regular washing of hands, sanitizing, and the use  of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

To ensure that social distancing is practiced, we have extended participants’ waiting areas to facilitate sufficient physical distancing between individuals.

We conduct training and refresher training for our staff members on the effective use of personal protective equipment (PPE).  We also provide our staff with visible and regular messaging to ensure their consistency in adhering to the set COVID-19 regulations in place.

Social responsibility:

We recognize that we are not alone in our efforts towards this disease, and that “Together We Can” achieve a lot more.

In this spirit, we have supported local clinics within the Soshanguve area in their efforts to manage this pandemic, by providing equipment and PPE to the clinics as well as offering some human resource support during the initial period of constraint. Some pictures of our efforts are included on our gallery page.

#TogetherWeCan