South Africa will pay R500 million for early access to Covid-19 vaccines, says Finance Minister Tito Mboweni.
“SA is in the fortunate position that we have been invited to participate in the consortium that is looking for this vaccine,” Mboweni told a Bloomberg Invest Africa virtual conference on Tuesday.
“South Africa will be involved in the production of the vaccine so we can be in the front line of those who receive the vaccine. This will ensure at least 10% of our 58-million citizens can get a vaccine when it becomes available.
“He said this was part of the World Health Organization’s Covax programme, so that middle- and lower-income countries like South Africa will get Covid-19 vaccines when they become available.
In recent weeks three potential vaccines have been announced by Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca but there are many processes which will take months before the vaccine will be available for distribution to the people.
The Covax programme involves 100 countries, has raised over $2 billion (R30 billion) and has already reserved 700-million doses.
Picture source: @WPLeadersOrg
