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David Ochieng Mbewa
South Africa’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout program received a boost as the Solidarity Fund, a mechanism set up to mobilise money to help South Africa fight the COVID-19 pandemic, revealed plans to spend $33 million (500 million rand) to strengthen it.
According to Chief Executive Officer Tandi Nzimande, who made the comments in an emailed response to questions on Tuesday, the fund will use 250 million rand from its own account and an equal amount raised from donors.
The support will help ease pressure off a government trying to contain spending after a sharp rise in debt and an economic contraction because of lockdowns to contain the pandemic.
South Africa’s National Treasury has set aside 10.3 billion rand for vaccines for the next three years, with another nine billion available in an emergency fund.
The Solidarity Fund is in discussions with the Ministry of Health and other parties to identify what else can be done to accelerate the rollout of vaccines, Nzimande added.
South Africa’s vaccination campaign began in mid-February as health care workers received the first single-shot doses of a vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson.
South Africa, Africa’s worst affected country by the COVID-19 pandemic, is targeting to vaccinate about 66 percent of its population by the end of 2021. According to the government, enough vaccines have been secured to achieve that target.
As of March 1, South Africa has reported 1,513,959 confirmed coronavirus cases and 50,077 deaths.- Africa CGTN
Online Reporter