South Africa has made a down payment to secure the COVID-19 vaccine for 10% of the country\u2019s population.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe National Department of Health and the Solidarity Fund are pleased to announce that a down payment of US $19.2 million USD (R283 million) has been made to GAVI (the Vaccine Alliance) to secure South Africa\u2019s entry into the COVAX facility,\u201d the department and fund said in a statement on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The payment was made in line with the fund\u2019s previous allocation of funds and commitment to support government\u2019s efforts to accelerate the roll out of vaccines in South Africa.<\/p>\n
COVAX has confirmed South Africa\u2019s entry into the facility. The down payment represents 15% of the total cost of securing access to vaccines for 10% (roughly six million) of the population.<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s membership in the COVAX facility ensures that South Africa receives its equitable share of the vaccine once it becomes available.<\/p>\n
Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, has hailed this milestone as the epitome of excellence in health service delivery through multilaterism.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a privilege to oversee a process that has brought together government, international partners and business for the sole purpose of delivering quality health care to the people of South Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what we have been advocating for when we speak of multi-sectoral collaboration, and it is gratifying to see this spirit being harnessed for the good of our people, Africans and the global village,\u201d Mkhize said.<\/p>\n
Solidarity Fund chairperson, Gloria Serobe, said there can be no doubt that a COVID-19 vaccine will play an important role in helping South Africa manage the virus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Solidarity Fund was set up for exactly this purpose \u2013 to be additive to the work of government and assist in initiatives and programmes that have the greatest impact in the fight against the pandemic. The fund is grateful to be in a position to assist at this crucial juncture,\u201d Serobe said.<\/p>\n
The Department of Health\u2019s Director-General, Dr Sandile Buthelezi, has thanked the Solidarity Fund for providing the financial support that has enabled the country to meet the down payment obligations, as required in terms of the agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Department of Health will make additional payments in relation to vaccines delivered under the COVAX facility as they fall due over the next year,\u201d Buthelezi said. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Africa has made a down payment to secure the COVID-19 vaccine for 10% of the country\u2019s population. \u201cThe National Department of Health and the Solidarity Fund are pleased to announce that a down payment of US $19.2 million USD (R283 million) has been made to GAVI (the Vaccine Alliance) to secure South Africa\u2019s entry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-175729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-sanews","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}