Additional R2.25bn set aside for SA’s flagging Covid-19 immunisation drive
This year’s Budget Review is virtually silent on National Health Insurance, but Treasury has set aside R8.8bn over the medium term for the NHI
Warning that SA’s low coronavirus vaccination rate poses a risk to the country’s economic recovery, Treasury has set aside an additional R2.25bn in this year’s budget for the country’s flagging immunisation drive. However, R1.3bn of this funding is provisional, highlighting government’s uncertainty about how many more doses will be purchased in the year ahead.
Covid-19 vaccines are free at the point of delivery and have been progressively offered to different population groups since February 2021, yet only 42% of SA’s adults are fully immunised. The government initially struggled to obtain supplies but eventually procured enough to vaccinate SA’s entire adult population. It is now grappling with falling demand, with the daily vaccination rate running at a seven-day moving average of about 63,000, far below the August peak of 241,000, Our World in Data shows...
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