National Treasury: It Could Cost South Africa R24 Billion Rand To Vaccinate 40 Million People

IT COULD cost South Africa between 20 billion and 24 billion rands to vaccinate around 40 million people against COVID-19, National Treasury Director-General Dondo Mogajane said on Wednesday.

Mogajane warned that this was just an estimate.

He declined to say how much the Treasury would allocate to vaccine procurement in the 2021 budget due next month, adding the “numbers are still soft”.

Meanwhile, South Africa has approved AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use and is reviewing applications by rival manufacturers, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer, the medicines regulator said on Wednesday.

“In terms of the AstraZeneca vaccine … this has been granted emergency use (approval) and there will be a press conference with the minister of health on this (later),” said Helen Rees, chairwoman of the South African Health Products board, during a media briefing.

Addressing the African COVID-19 Vaccine Financing and Deployment Strategy Webinar on Wednesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa