South Africa Treasury considers tax hike to fund vaccines – report

South Africa’s National Treasury is considering raising taxes as one of several possible mechanisms to fund the vaccination drive against Covid-19, Business Day reported.

The government viewed the vaccines as a public good and was committed to financing their rollout, with or without support from the private sector and medical schemes, the Johannesburg-based newspaper reported, citing Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane.

Other options the Treasury is exploring include widening the budget deficit and reprioritizing government spending. The pandemic was a good case for emergency funding, Business Day cited Mogajane as saying.

The department of health has estimated a maximum cost of R20 billion ($1.3 billion) to vaccinate the entire country, while more recent internal estimates done by the Treasury are far lower than this, the newspaper said.

The government has been criticized by South African scientists for the slow pace of its vaccine procurement.

Details about discussions with vaccine manufacturers were only released this month, and a charity had to pay the deposit for South Africa to join the Covax program.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said the country will get an initial 20 million doses, with the first batch of 1.5 million shots of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca Plc likely to arrive this month.

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