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South Africa, which has the worst coronavirus outbreak on record in Africa, may have to wait months to receive its first vaccines, even as other countries compete to implement the vaccines.
The government only hopes that the vaccines paid by a deposit to secure from the World Health Organization’s Covax program will arrive in the second quarter of 2021, according to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The wait bodes ill for a country facing a new, more virulent strain of the virus, record new infections, and a population increasingly avoiding social distancing.
Talks with pharmaceutical companies about supplementing South Africa’s Covax allocation are ongoing, Ramaphosa said in a speech Monday night, in which he announced the re-imposition of several restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the pandemic.
It’s unclear when or if those shots will be available, as several wealthy nations have already paid upfront to pin down most of the initial production.
“With a lot of advanced vaccine purchases, it will be difficult to skip the lines to try to secure earlier vaccine doses,” said Stavros Nicolaou, executive at Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd and head of the health working group at Business for South Africa. . , an alliance of the largest business groups in the country known as B4SA.
The Solidarity Fund, which was established to support the government’s response to the pandemic and is backed by some of the country’s largest businesses and wealthiest individuals, paid Covax’s initial deposit of 283 million rand (19.3 millions of dollars).
It will cost South Africa a total of R2.7 billion to secure its full allocation of six million doses from the facility, enough to cover approximately 10% of the population.
South Africa’s largest labor group said the government’s vaccine implementation program does not inspire confidence.
“Even more so when other countries in Europe and the Americas have started mass vaccinations, the South African Congress of Trade Unions said in a statement.
“We cannot allow South Africans to die from the lethargy of the state.”
He has asked the government and the private sector to come up with a plan to ensure that all South Africans are vaccinated by 2021.
While the government wants to secure alternative supplies immediately, affordability remains a major constraint and the efficacy of a number of potential vaccines remains unproven, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in an online briefing on Tuesday.
The pandemic has exacerbated state funding constraints, and the central bank expects the economy to contract 8% this year.
The Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, called on the government to change its spending priorities and redirect a R10.5 billion ransom destined for the bankrupt national airline to pay for vaccines.
The money could be used to inoculate up to 23 million people based on current costs and exchange rates, it said in a statement.
Discovery Health, the nation’s largest health insurer, said it is in talks with the government to ensure access to the vaccines and that funds have been limited to provide the vaccines to its members when they become available.
‘Reasonable expectation’
“Given that there are only two vaccines that have received emergency use approval at this stage and the time required to accelerate vaccine manufacturing, it is difficult to accurately project timelines at this stage,” said Ronald Whelan, commercial director of Discovery Health. . in an email response to questions.
“Sometime in the second quarter of 2021 that would probably be a reasonable expectation.”
More than 5.1 million doses of vaccines have been administered in 22 countries, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. South Africa, which has recorded more than 1 million Covid-19 infections so far, should join their ranks as soon as possible, according to B4SA.
“We will do whatever it takes to ensure that the necessary vaccine supplies are secured and distributed with extreme urgency,” said Martin Kingston, who heads the group’s steering committee.
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