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The African country with the worst confirmed coronavirus outbreak has yet to clarify how it plans to order vaccines, even as the global race to secure vaccines accelerates.
South Africa is home to three trials, including Johnson & Johnson and a partnership between AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford, but has yet to announce a firm strategy to immunize a population preparing for a possible resurgence of the pandemic.
Nearly 22,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the nation, the fourteenth highest in the world.
South Africa confirmed last week that it plans to subscribe to Covax, a global initiative that strives to ensure that the poorest countries have access to vaccines.
The National Treasury paid 500 million rand ($ 33 million) for the program and it will need to find another 4.5 billion rand to move “to the front of the queue,” Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said in an interview.
However, that proposal will initially provide doses for just 3% of South Africa’s population of roughly 59 million, according to Anban Pillay, deputy director general of the Department of Health, or 10% in the long term.
The government has said that priority will be given to frontline healthcare workers and the elderly, which means that advance purchase agreements will be needed with pharmaceutical companies to protect the wider community.
“What worries me about the government is the clear lack of communication,” Francois Venter, a professor of medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and a former member of the ministerial advisory council on the virus, said in an interview. “We are all sitting here terrified, not knowing if we will get the vaccine.”
Behind Brazil
The lack of progress comes at a critical time for South Africa, which is seeing a further increase in coronavirus cases in some provinces just as millions of people are preparing to travel to their home cities and holiday destinations.
A protracted lockdown that began in March hampered the economy and resulted in the loss of millions of jobs, and the need for further restrictions is likely to undermine President Cyril Ramaphosa’s focus on revival.
While Pillay said the government has been talking to “various manufacturers” about bilateral deals, other countries have already put pen to paper. The UK has secured access to 357 million doses from seven different developers.
Brazil agreed to buy a total of 186 million from a combination of AstraZeneca and Covax.
In Africa, Botswana and Namibia agreed in November to purchase enough Covax vaccines for 20% of their populations of about 2 million people each. Rwanda plans to raise $ 15 million for its first batch of shots, Finance Minister Uzziel Ndagijimana said last week.
Lwazi Manzi, spokesman for Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, said the minister will make an announcement “in due course.” Barry Schoub, chairman of the ministerial advisory council, said he cannot comment on plans to preorder vaccines.
Pfizer Inc., a co-maker of the vaccine approved by the UK this week, said it has entered into engagements with the South African government, without giving further details.
Manufacturing offer
Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd, Africa’s largest drug maker, signed a deal last month to make about a third of the 1 billion doses J&J expects to produce next year at a South African factory. Half of the total will go to emerging markets under the Covax program, according to Stavros Nicolaou, Aspen’s senior trade executive.
J&J has offered the injections to South Africa at non-profit prices, according to Glenda Gray, executive director of the South African Medical Research Council and co-chair of the company’s local arm of the trial.
South Africa should be “in a favorable position to start negotiations with manufacturers,” Shabir Madhi, a professor of vaccination at the University of the Witwatersrand and principal investigator in the country stage of the Oxford trial, said in a text message.
“However, the government must compromise with the manufacturers. I have no idea where the government is with such negotiations.
Read: Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccine Receives First Major Approval, To Be Implemented Starting Next Week
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