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Unlike many other countries, South Africa hasn’t been able to buy vaccines en masse.

The country has secured 20 million doses of the vaccine, of which 1 million have already arrived, and a further 500 000 are expected to reach our shores in February.

But, a lack of clarity surrounding the overall acquisition and distribution of vaccines, compounded by a general mistrust of the government following corruption scandals at the start of the lockdown, has also led to widespread criticism.

The ‘plan’ for distribution once we do get our hands on them have been outlined (sort of) with the National government and the Western Cape government taking slightly different approaches to how they want to handle things. 

Premier Alan Winde is insisting that the province has the right to buy extra COVID-19 vaccines, separately, for its citizens, with a campaign to educate people on the vaccine, registrations for inoculations, and the acquisition of extra fridges for vaccine storage already in place.

To make matters worse, reports The Guardian, South Africa will have to buy doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine at a price nearly 2,5 times higher than most European countries.

The Daily Maverick broke down the figures.

On January 7, the government said that they would need to fork out an estimated R20,6 billion to vaccinate 67% of South Africans, which is the estimated number needed to kick start herd immunity.

The R20.6-billon is based on the assumption of dispensing 70% of AstraZeneca double-dose vaccines at R54 per dose, or a total of R108; 20% Johnson & Johnson vaccines at R153 per dose; 5% of Moderna at R536 per dose; and 5% of the Pfizer double-dose vaccines at R299 per dose, or R598 in total.

That figure has since been demolished after Deputy Director-General of Health, Anban Pillay, said that the Serum Institute of India (SII), set to supply the AstraZeneca vaccine, has put a tiered system in place.

He said that “given that SA is an upper-middle-income country”, their price is $5,25 (R79) a shot.

The vaccine is administered in two shots, so that’s R158 per person and upwards of 30% more than initially estimated.

Keep in mind that that figure excludes the cost of logistics like storing, distributing and transporting it.

The Daily Maverick’s full article breaks things down further.

In a recent interview with CapeTalk Business Insider SA’s Phillip de Wet said that South Africa’s medical schemes would be able to cover the country’s entire vaccine bill if they chose to.

New data released by the Council for Medical Schemes has revealed that up until September 2020, medical schemes spent over R10 billion less than they had in the previous year because fewer patients were showing up for scheduled medical procedures and check-ups during the pandemic.

“if we do want them to pay for it, there are a couple of legal mechanisms. The smartest one that I think has been raised is to simply charge medical schemes a hell of a lot of money for vaccines.”

“We have a mechanism called the single exit pricing where the government basically sets the price of medicine. The government can say, we’re charing 10, 20 or 50 times the value of the actual vaccines and by overcharging medical schemes we can pull that money into government and pay for everyone elses vacccines.”

Whether or not this is an option remains to be seen.

More from that interview here.

To return to the price hike, per The Guardian, Pillay outlined the possible reasons for the increased cost of the vaccines.

“The explanation we were given for why other high-income countries have a lower price is that they have invested in the [research and development], hence the discount on the price,” Pillay said.

Around 2 000 South Africans participated in clinical trials for the vaccine in 2020.

You’d think that that would count for something.

[source:guardian&dailymaverick&capetalk]