South Africa, which has Africa\u2019s worst recorded coronavirus outbreak, may have to wait months to receive its first vaccines even as other countries race to roll out the shots.<\/p>\n
The government only expects vaccines that it paid a deposit to secure from the World Health Organization\u2019s Covax program to arrive in the second quarter of 2021, according to president Cyril Ramaphosa.<\/p>\n
The wait bodes ill for a country that\u2019s confronting a new more virulent strain of the virus, record new infections and a populace that\u2019s increasingly eschewed social distancing.<\/p>\n
Talks with drug companies about supplementing South Africa\u2019s Covax allocation are ongoing, Ramaphosa said in an address Monday night, in which he announced the re-imposition of several restrictions aimed at curbing the pandemic\u2019s spread.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear when or whether those shots will be made available, with several wealthy nations having already prepaid to pin down most of the initial production.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith a lot of advanced purchasing of vaccines, it will be hard to jump the queues in trying to secure earlier vaccine doses,\u201d said Stavros Nicolaou, an executive at Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd and head of the health work group at Business for South Africa, an alliance of the nation\u2019s biggest business groups that\u2019s known as B4SA.<\/p>\n
The Solidarity Fund, which was established to support the government\u2019s pandemic response and is backed by some of the country\u2019s biggest companies and richest individuals, paid the initial R283 million ($19.3 million) Covax deposit.<\/p>\n
It will cost a total of R2.7 billion for South Africa to secure its full allocation of six million doses from the facility – sufficient to cover about 10% of the population.<\/p>\n
South Africa\u2019s biggest labor group said the government\u2019s vaccine roll-out program does not inspire confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore so when other countries across Europe and the Americas have begun mass vaccinations, the Congress of South African Trade Unions said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot afford to allow South Africans to die because of state lethargy.\u201d<\/p>\n
It has called on the government and the private sector to produce a plan to ensure all South Africans are vaccinated during 2021.<\/p>\n
While the government wants to secure alternate supplies immediately, affordability remains a major constraint, and the efficacy of a number of potential shots remains unproven, health minister Zweli Mkhize said in an online briefing on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The pandemic has exacerbated state funding constraints, with the central bank expecting the economy to contract 8% this year.<\/p>\n
The Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, called on the government to reprioritize its spending and redirect a R10.5 billion bailout earmarked for the bankrupt national airline toward paying for vaccines.<\/p>\n
The money could be used to inoculate as many as 23 million people based on current costs and exchange rates, it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Discovery Health, the nation\u2019s biggest medical insurer, said it\u2019s in talks with the government to secure access to vaccines and funds have been ring-fenced to provide the shots to its members when they become available.<\/p>\n
\u2018Reasonable Expectation\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cGiven there are only two vaccines that have received emergency-use approval at this stage and the time required to ramp-up vaccine manufacturing, it is difficult to accurately project timelines at this stage,\u201d Ronald Whelan, Discovery Health\u2019s chief commercial officer, said in an emailed response to questions.<\/p>\n \u201cSome time in the second quarter of 2021 would likely be a reasonable expectation.\u201d<\/p>\n More than 5.1 million vaccine doses have been administered in 22 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg. South Africa, which has recorded more than 1 million Covid-19 infections so far, needs to join their ranks as soon as possible, according to B4SA.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will do whatever is needed to ensure that the requisite vaccine supplies are secured and distributed as a matter of extreme urgency,\u201d said Martin Kingston, who heads the group\u2019s steering committee.<\/p>\n
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