The Solidarity Fund, established last year to raise money to help the government tackle the coronavirus crisis, is considering spending R69m on technical support for its Covid-19 vaccine rollout.
The fund has received pledges of R3.22bn since its establishment, of which R2.76bn has been allocated to health, humanitarian relief and behavioural change interventions, said CEO Tandi Nzimande. It has now shifted its focus to vaccines as they offer the best hope for controlling and reducing the impact of Covid-19, she said.
The national vaccination drive will be the biggest in SA’s history, and aims to inoculate 40-million adults, two thirds of the country’s population. It has yet to get under way as commercial stocks secured from vaccine manufacturers have yet to be delivered.
“An accelerated, large-scale vaccine programme … is essential to saving lives [and] is essential to our economic recovery,” said the fund’s health lead Nicola Galombik. “It is a mammoth task. Our role at the Solidarity Fund is to support and augment the national effort.”
The fund has already provided the government with R283m for its down payment to the international vaccine financing vehicle Covax, and gave R50m towards the operational costs of the Sisonke implementation study dispensing Johnson & Johnson shots to health workers.
The fund will not get involved in vaccine procurement or logistics, but is “in advanced discussion” with the national health department about contributing towards technical support for the vaccine rollout, Galombik said. The department has made a request to a consortium of donors to fund technical support, and is seeking a total of R138m for the project, half of it from the Solidarity Fund.
Solidarity Fund deputy chair Adrian Enthoven said in the absence of vaccines it is vital to maintain non-medical interventions, such as wearing masks, washing hands and social-distancing, as SA heads into a high-risk period at Easter.
“Maintaining these behaviours will be absolutely critical to saving lives and, hopefully, keeping our economy open,” he said.
Health minister Zweli Mkhize’s advisers have warned that the country could see coronavirus infections begin to rise as soon as mid-April as increased travel, holidays and religious gatherings fuel transmission and drive a third wave.
The cabinet warned on Thursday that its plans to vaccinate 40-million people by the end of the year has been delayed by the shortage of vaccines, and it now anticipates the process will take until February 2022.
It urged South Africans to respect lockdown restrictions during the upcoming religious holidays of Passover, Ramadan and Easter, to minimise a resurgence in Covid-19 cases.
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