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The solidarity fund was intended to make a deposit of R327 million to ensure enough vaccines to supply 10% of the country’s population.
CAPE TOWN – The Health Department’s Chief Compliance Officer confirmed Thursday that South Africa missed the deadline to pay the deposit needed to secure COVAX vaccine supplies.
The department said it was in the process of finalizing its agreement with COVAX, and attributed the failure to meet the deadline to an administrative problem.
The solidarity fund was intended to make a deposit of R327 million to ensure enough vaccines to supply 10% of the country’s population on Wednesday.
However, the health department said the failure would not hurt South Africa’s chances of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Deputy Director General of Health, Anban Pillay, said: “The COVAX facility has not responded regarding the documentation required to make the deposit payment. They have subsequently indicated that the deposit can be paid at a later date, before December 22nd. The department signed the service level agreement with the COVAX facility to purchase the vaccine ”.
The fund, which was created by President Cyril Ramaphosa in March, has raised R3.14 billion in donations to date.
The World Health Organization launched the COVAX program to accelerate the search for an effective vaccine, and South Africa wanted to get involved.
Earlier this month, the executive director of the Solidarity Fund, Tandi Nzimande, said they had set aside millions for it.
“This particular donation is intended for the down payment required for South Africa to join the program. It represents 15% of the total cost of ensuring access to the vaccine for 10% of the population. That would be approximately six million people.”
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