Vaccine deadline not missed — Mboweni
• Minister says payment to Covax due in mid-December
SA has not missed the deadline to pay the R500m required for its participation in a global initiative to ensure equitable access by middle- and lowincome countries to Covid-19 vaccines, finance minister Tito Mboweni said in the National Assembly on Friday. He said the payment deadline was about December 15 and the Solidarity Fund had agreed to pay the amount.
SA has not missed the deadline to pay the R500m required for its participation in a global initiative to ensure equitable access by middle- and low-income countries to Covid-19 vaccines, finance minister Tito Mboweni said in the National Assembly on Friday.
He was replying to a question by DA finance spokesperson Geordin Hill-Lewis at the end of the debate on the medium-term budget policy statement t hat was adopted by parliament.
The DA, EFF, Freedom Front Plus and the African Christian Democratic Party voted against the bill.
Hill-Lewis wanted to know how the minister could justify missing the deadline for the payment for the Covid-19 vaccine while managing to find the money to allocate R1.5bn for SAA when this had not been approved by parliament.
News24 reported on Thursday that SA had missed the first payment window to join Covax, the global Covid-19 financing vehicle to secure vaccines.
But Mboweni said the payment deadline was about December 15 and that the Solidarity Fund, set up in March to collect donations for use in support of the fight against the pandemic, had agreed to pay this. So far the fund has raised about R3.2bn, allocated R2.7bn and disbursed R1.62bn. Fund executives told parliament’s finance committee this week it envisaged continuing its work until end-2021 with a view to possibly helping the government with the procurement and distribution of vaccines.
We have sufficient time until plus-minus 15 December to do the payment. So we have not missed the deadline at all and the Solidarity Fund stands ready to pay the R500m that has been promised. We have not missed the deadline at all. Don’t go around misleading people because you are misinformed,” Mboweni told Hill-Lewis.
In a debate on the health vote during the processing of the Second Adjustments Appropriation Bill, deputy health minister Joe Phaahla said that directorgeneral of health Sandile Buthelezi and the Treasury had finalised the agreement that would be signed with Covax.
“That door remains open, and with the deposit from the Solidarity Fund, we are still in time to get our place in accessing the Covid vaccine,” he said.
Bloomberg reported last week that Mboweni said SA would need to find a further R4.5bn to move to “the front of the queue” to obtain vaccines.
Covax is jointly co-ordinated by the World Health Organisation and the international vaccine alliance Gavi, and requires middle-income countries such as SA to self-finance the shots they procure through the facility. SA still has to sign a formal agreement. The government is expected to make a committed purchase for 10% of the population.
It was reported last week that SAA had received R1.5bn, or about 10% of the R10.5bn it was allocated in the medium-term budget policy statement for the implementation of the business rescue plan for the airline.