South Africa finalised a deal to receive 20 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech SE from mid-April, allowing the country to prepare for a broad roll-out of inoculations after a series of setbacks.<\/p>\n
The agreement had been delayed by contractual conditions demanded by Pfizer that aren\u2019t in line with South Africa\u2019s normal procurement policies, Anban Pillay, a deputy director-general in the Department of Health, said by text message Tuesday. Those have now been resolved.<\/p>\n
The deal comes as a boost to a country where inoculations have been limited to just over 250,000 health workers taking part in a study by Johnson & Johnson.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s meant South Africa lags a number of its emerging-market peers as well as some other African countries.<\/p>\n
J&J has agreed to supply more than 30 million doses of its vaccine candidate, which was\u00a0approved for general use\u00a0in South Africa last week.<\/p>\n
That and the Pfizer-BioNTech version will be used to kick-start the roll out after a decision not to use AstraZeneca Plc\u2019s shot, which was found to offer little protection against mild forms of Covid-19 in a local trial.<\/p>\n
Pfizer insisted that South Africa\u2019s health and finance ministers\u00a0personally\u00a0sign the vaccine-supply pact, which includes indemnity clauses to protect the company against any future legal claims, according to correspondence between the ministers seen by Bloomberg and confirmed by the National Treasury.<\/p>\n
Pfizer will deliver vaccines every quarter, Pillay told the Business Day newspaper, which reported the signing of the deal earlier.<\/p>\n