The Western Cape has set aside more than R2bn for the procurement and rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, among other measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Vaccines are widely regarded as the best hope to end the devastating health and economic effects caused by the pandemic, which has claimed more than 50,000 lives in SA.
Last week, health minister Zweli Mkhize warned that the government might miss its target of vaccinating 40-million people by the end of the year because there may not be enough shots available.
Western Cape finance MEC David Maynier said on Tuesday that the province will pursue its own shots to vaccinate as many people as possible.
“We are locked in a struggle between a virus and a vaccine, and the virus is winning — for now. So, we face a choice: defeat the virus or be defeated by the virus. And to defeat the virus we must, above all, vaccinate as many people as fast as possible,” Maynier said as he delivered the 2021 provincial budget speech.
Maynier said the province has a R2.17bn “war chest” to defeat Covid-19. Just more than R400m will be set aside in the immediate term for the procurement and rollout of up to 5.1-million vaccinations. R20m will be spent on communicating the benefits of being vaccinated, Maynier said.
“To ensure we remain sufficiently agile and flexible, we have ring-fenced a further R800m in the provincial reserves to support the fight against Covid-19 in the Western Cape,” Maynier said. The money could be utilised for a range of needs, including to procure and roll out additional vaccines, and to respond to any additional costs arising from the fight against Covid-19 in the province.
R832m will be set aside to respond to a possible third wave of infections. The money will be spent on, among other things, rapidly expanding testing, providing personal protective equipment, and ensuring sufficient supply of oxygen and critical care capacity in the Western Cape, the MEC said.
“We have, in the end, matched a R1.08bn contribution from national government with a R1.09bn contribution from provincial government, to mobilise a R2.17bn war chest to defeat Covid-19 in the Western Cape.”
The national health department has allocated vaccine volumes to provinces based on their health-worker population. None of the provinces will initially have enough supplies to vaccinate all their health workers, so those in direct contact with patients are to be prioritised. There are an estimated 133,000 health workers in the Western Cape.
In February, Western Cape premier Alan Winde said the provincial cabinet had approved a framework for “contingency vaccine procurement”, a potential backup should the national government fail to obtain enough supplies.
He said the Western Cape fully supports the national vaccine acquisition efforts in line with the constitutional principles of co-operative governance. Winde said, however, a single acquisition vehicle carries inherent risk in a complex global system.
“This is especially the case in phases 2 and 3 of our vaccine rollout [when] large numbers of vaccines would be required and have not yet been guaranteed through national procurement,” Winde said.
Maynier said the Western Cape’s total budget would amount to R217.83bn over the medium term. This comprises R72.39bn in 2021/2022, R72.68bn in 2022/2023 and R72.77bn in 2023/2024. He noted, however, that the provincial equitable share has been cut by R20.7bn over the medium term, as the national government moves to slash spending to reduce the fiscal deficit.
Among other measures to support the Western Cape’s economic recovery, Maynier said the province will accelerate investment in infrastructure, which will also create jobs. About R29bn will be spent on infrastructure over the medium term.
With Tamar Khan
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